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KING EDWARD VH 






I dedicate this book 

to my friend ^T* 3* f^** who generously 

gave tinne, labor, and valuable 

suggestions towards its 

preparation foV 

the press 



PREFACE 

Most of the materials for this book were gathered by the 
writer during several years' residence in England. 

The attempt is here made to present them in a manner that 
shall illustrate the great law of national growth, in the light 
thrown upon it by the foremost English historians. 

The authorities for the different periods will be found in the 
classified List of Books in the Appendix ; but the author desires 
to particularly acknowledge his indebtedness to the works of 
Gardiner, Guest, and Green, and to the excellent constitutional 
histories of Taswell-Langmead and Ransome. 

The author's hearty thanks are due to G. Mercer Adam, Esq., 
of Toronto, Canada; the late Prof. W. F. Allen, of The Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin ; Prof. P. V. N. Myers, recently Professor 
of History and Political Economy in the University of Cincinnati ; 
Prof. George W. Knight, of Ohio State University ; and to Miss 
M. A. Parsons, teacher of history in the High School, Winchester, 
Mass., for the important aid which they have kindly rendered. 

DAVID H. MONTGOMERY, 



CONTENTS 

SECTION PAGE 

I. Britain before History begins i 

II. The Relation of the Geography of England to its History. . ii 

III. A Civilization which did not civilize ; Roman Britain ... 17 

IV. The Coming of the Saxons ; Britain becomes England 1 . . 29 
V. The Coming of the Normans 56 

VI. The Angevins, or Plantagenets ; Rise of the English Nation . 86 

VII. The Self-Destruction of Feudalism 150 

VIII. Absolutism of the Crown ; the Reformation ; the New 

Learning 179 

IX. The Stuart Period ; the Divine Right of Kings vs. the Divine 

Right of the People 229 

X. The American Revolution ; the House of Commons the 
Ruling Power ; the Era of Reform ; Government by the 

People 312 

XI. A General Summary of English Constitutional History . . i 

Constitutional Documents xxix 

Table of Principal Dates xxxiii 

Descent of the English Sovereigns xl 

List of Books xlii 

Index xlvii 

1 Each section or period is followed by a general view of that period. 



VIU 



CONTENTS 



MAPS 



MAP 

I. Britain before its Separation from the Continent . . 
II. Roman Britain 

III. The Continental Homes of the English with their 

Successive Invasions of Britain 

IV. The English Settlements and Kingdoms (England in 

626) 

V. Danish England — England after the Treaty of Wed- 
more, 878 

VI. England in 1066, showing the Four Great Earldoms of 
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, and Wessex . 

VII. Plan of a Manor 

VIII. The Dominions of the Angevins, or Plantagenets . . 

IX. Scotland, illustrating English Wars 

X. The Enghsh Possessions in France, 1360 (in colors) . 
XI. England and Wales (1066-1485), showing the Battle- 
fields of the Wars of the Roses . . • . . . 
XII. The World at the Accession of Henry VII, showing 
Voyages of Discovery by the Cabots and Others 

XIII. First English Settlements in America, and Drake's 

Voyage around the Globe 

XIV. The Homes of the Pilgrims in England and Holland 

(double page) 

XV. England during the Great Civil War of the 17th 

Centui-y 

XVI, Europe, illustrating the Campaigns of Marlborough . 

XVII. dive's Conquests in India 

XVIII. The British Isles 

XIX. The British Empire in 1837 

XX. The British Empire in 190 1 

XXI. The British in Africa 

XXI T. County Map of England (in colors) 



faci 



CONTENTS 



IX 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



King Edward VII. Frontispiece. 

Two of the Columns at Stonehenge 

"The White Walls of England" — The Shakespeare Cliff, 

Dover 

Roman Wall, Northumberland , 
Roman Road over Salisbury Plain \ 

White Horse Hill, Berkshire 

Part of the Bayeux Tapestry 

The Tower of London 

The Battle of Crecy 

The Tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral . . 
The Caxton Memorial Window in St. Margaret's Church, 

London 

Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey 

Stratford on Avon 

The Spanish Armada . 

Windsor Castle 

Oliver Cromwell 

St. Paul's Cathedral 

Hogarth's Election Scenes — Bribing a Voter 

The Nelson Monument, Trafalgar Square, London .... 
■' Your Majesty " — Announcement to the Princess Victoria of 

her Accession to the Crown, June 20, 1837 . . . . . 

The Houses of Parliament 

Gladstone introducing the Home Rule Bill in the House of 

Commons 

Medallion of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) 



facing 10 



28 

44 

62 

92 

128 



168 
184 
2r6 
220 
246 
250 
264 
312 
334 

368 
372 

404 
410 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 

The writer of this brief manual is convinced that no hard and 
fast lines can be laid down for the use of a text-book in history. 
He believes that every teacher will naturally pursue a system of his 
own ; and that by so doing he will get better results than if he 
attempted to follow a rigid mechanical course which made no allow- 
ance for individual judgment and gave no scope to originality of 
method. 

The author would simply suggest that where time is limited it might 
be well to wholly omit the '* General View " found at the end of each 
section (see, for instance, page 46) and to read the text as a continuous 
narrative. Then the important points in each day's lesson might 
be talked over at the end of the recitation or on the following day. 

On the other hand, where time permits a thorough course of study, 
the topics may be taken up and carefully examined. The pupil can 
then be referred to one or more books (see the Classified List of 
Books in the Appendix) which would throw additional light on the 
subjects under consideration. 

Instead of the teacher's asking a prescribed set of routine ques- 
tions the pupil may be encouraged to ask his own ; for there are 
certain questions which seem to suggest themselves. Thus in under- 
taking the examination of a given topic — say, the Battle of Hastings 
(§§ 1 44-1 51), the issue of the Great Charter (§§ 247-251), or 
Watt's invention of an improved Steam Engine (§§ 610-61 1) — 
there are five inquiries which naturally arise and which practically 
cover the whole ground.. 

These are : i. When did the event occur ? 2. Where did it occur ? 
3. How did it occur ? 4. What caused it? 5. What came of it? 
It will be seen that these questions call attention first to the chro- 
nology of the event, secondly to its geography, thirdly to the narra- 
tive describing it, fourthly to its relations to preceding events, and 
fifthly to its relations to subsequent events. 

X 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS xi 

It is believed that the search for satisfactory answers to these five 
questions will do much toward discovering the true meaning of 
historical facts. Such a method of study, or one akin to it, will 
teach the pupil to think and to examine for himself. It will lead 
him to see the inevitable limitations and the apparent contradictions 
of history. It will make him realize, as perhaps nothing else can, 
that the testimony of different writers must be taken like that of 
witnesses in a court of justice. He will see that while authorities 
seldom entirely agree respecting details, they will generally agree in 
regard to the main features of important events. Last of all, and 
best as well as last, these five questions will be found to open up 
new an(i broader fields of inquiry, and they will often stimulate the 
pupil to pursue his work beyond the limits of the text-book and the 
class room. 

Pursued in this way, the study of history will cease to be a dry 
delving for dead facts in the dust of a dead past. It will stimulate 
thought, it will quicken the pulse of intellectual life, and it will end 
by making the. pupil feel the full force of the great truth : that it is 
only by knowing what men have done that we can hope to under- 
stand what they are now doing. D H M 



THE LEADING FACTS OF 
ENGLISH HISTORY 

SECTION I 

" This fortress built by Nature for herself 
Against infection and the hand of war; 
"" This happy breed of men, this little world, 
This precious stone set in the silver sea, 
Which serves it in the office of a wall, 
Or as a moat defensive to a house, 
Against the envy of less happier lands ; 
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England." 

Shakespeare, Richard II. 

BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS 
THE COUNTRY 

1 . Britain once a Part of the Continent The island of Great 

Britain has not always had its present form. Though separated 
from Europe now by the English Channel and the North Sea, yet 
there is abundant geological evidence that it was once a part of 
the continent. 

2. Proofs. — The chalk cliffs of Dover are really a continua- 
tion of the chalk of Calais, on the coast of France. The strait 
dividing them, which is nowhere more than thirty fathoms 
deep,^ is simply the result of a slight and comparatively recent 

1 The width of the Strait of Dover at its narrowest point is twenty-one miles. 
The bottom is a continuous ridge of chalk. If St. Paul's Cathedral were placed in 
the strait, midway between England and France, more than half of the building 
would be above the surface of the water. 



2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

depression in that chalk. The waters of the North Sea are also 
shallow, and in dredging, great quantities of the same fossil 
remains of land animals are brought up which are found buried 
in the soil of England, Belgium, and France. It would seem, 
therefore, that there can be no reasonable doubt that the bed 
of this sea, where these creatures made their homes, must once 
have been on a level with the countries whose shores it now 
washes. 

3. Appearance of the Country. — What we know to-day as 
England, was at that time a western projection of the continent, 
wild, desolate, and without a name.-^ The high hill ranges show 
unmistakable marks of the glaciers which once ploughed down their 
sides, and penetrated far into the valleys, as they still continue to 
do among the Alps. 

4. The Climate. — The climate then was probably like that of 
Greenland now. Europe was but just emerging, if, indeed, it had 
begun to finally emerge, from that long period during which the 
upper part of the northern hemisphere was buried under a vast 
field of ice and snow. 

5^ Trees and Animals. — The trees and animals corresponded 
to the climate and the country. Forests of fir, pine, and stunted 
oak, such as are now found in latitudes much farther north, cov- 
ered the low lands and the lesser hills. Through these roamed 
the reindeer, the mammoth, the wild horse, the bison or "buf- 
falo," and the cave -bear. 

MAN — THE ROUGH-STONE AGE 

6. His Condition. — Man seems to have taken up his abode in 
Britain before it was severed from the mainland. His condition 
was that of the lowest and most brutal savage. He probably 
stood apart, even from his fellow-men, in selfish isolation ; if so, 
he was bound to no tribe, acknowledged no chief, obeyed no law. 
All his interests were centred in himself and in the little group 
which constituted his family. 

1 See Map No. i, facing page 4. 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS 3 

7. How he lived. — His house was the first empty cave he 
found, or a rude rock-shelter made by piling up stones in some 
partially protected place. Here he dwelt during the winter. 
In summer, when his wandering life began, he built himself a 
camping place of branches and bark, under the shelter of an 
overhanging cliff by the sea, or close to the bank of a river. 

He had no tools. When he wanted a fire he struck a bit of 
flint against a lump of iron ore, or made a flame by rubbing two 
dry sticks rapidly together. 

His only weapon was a club or a stone. As he did not dare 
encounter the larger and fiercer animals, he rarely ventured into 
the depths of the forests, but subsisted on the shellfish he picked 
up along the shore, or on any chance game he might have the 
good fortune to kill, to which, as a relish, he added berries or 
pounded roots. 

8. His First Tools and "Weapons. — In process of time he 
learned to make rough tools and weapons from pieces of flint, 
which he chipped to an edge by striking them together. When 
he had thus succeeded in shaping for himself a spear-point, or had 
discovered how to make a bow and to tip the arrows with a sharp 
splinter of stone, his condition changed. He now felt that he 
was a match for the beasts he had fled from before. 

Thus armed, he slew the reindeer and the bison, used their 
flesh for. food, their skins for clothing, while he made thread from 
their sinews, and needles and other implements from their bones. 
He had advanced from his first helpless state, but his life 
continued to be a constant battle with the beasts and the 
elements. 

9. His Moral and Religious Nature. — His moral nature was 
on a level with his intellect. No questions of conscience dis- 
turbed him. In every case of dispute might made right. 

His religion was the terror inspired by the forces and convul- 
sions of nature, and the dangers to which he was constantly 
exposed. Such, we have every reason to believe, was the condi- 
tion of the Cave-Man who first inhabited Britain and the other 
countries of Europe and the East. 



4 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

10. Duration of the Rough-Stone Age. — The period in which 
he lived is called the Old or Rough-Stone Age, a name derived 
from the implements then in use. 

When that age began, or when it came to a close, are questions 
which at present cannot be answered. But we may measure the 
time which has elapsed since man appeared in Britain by the 
changes which have taken place in the country. 

We know that sluggish streams like the Lower or Bristol Avon, 
with whose channel the lapse of many centuries has made scarcely 
any material difference, have, little by little, cut their way down 
through beds of gravel or rock till they have scooped out valleys 
sometimes a hundred feet deep. 

We know also that the climate is now wholly unlike what it 
once was, and that the animals of that far-off period have either 
disappeared from the globe or are found only in distant regions. 

The men who were contemporary with them have vanished in 
like manner. But that they were contemporary we may feel sure 
from two well-estabHshed grounds of evidence. 

1 1 . Remains of the Rough-Stone Age. — First, their flint knives 
and arrows are found in the caves, mingled with ashes and with 
the bones of the animals on which they feasted ; these bones 
having been invariably split in order that they might suck out the 
marrow.-^ Next, we have the drawings they made of those very 
creatures scratched on a tusk or on a smooth piece of slate with 
a bit of sharp-pointed quartz or rock-crystal.^ 

Nearly everything else has perished ; even their burial places, 
if they had any, have been swept away by the destroying action 
of time. Yet these memorials have come down to us, so many 
fragments of imperishable history, made by that primeval race 
who possessed no other means of recording the fact of their 
existence and their work. 

1 Very few remains of the Cave-Men themselves have yet been found, and these 
with the most trifling exceptions have been discovered on the continent, especially 
in France and Switzerland. The first rough-stone implement found in England was 
dug up in Gray's Inn Road, London, in 1690. It is of flint, and in shape and size 
resembles a very large pear. It forms the nucleus of a collection in the British Museum. 

2 These drawings have been found in considerable number on the continent. 




BRITAIN BEFORE ITS SEPARATION FROM THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE 



The dark lines represent land, now submerged. 

The dotted area, that occupied by animals. 

The white land area, portions once covered by glaciers. 

The figures show the present depth of sea in fathoms. 

F. (France), T. (Thames), W. (Wales), S. (Scotland), I. (Ireland). 

?, doubtful area, but probably glacial. 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS 



THE AGE OF POLISHED STONE 

12. The Second Race; Britain an Island. — Following the 
Cave-Men, there came a higher race who took possession of the 
country ; these were the men of the New or Polished-Stone Age. 
When they reached Britain, it had probably become an island. 
Long before their arrival the land on the east and south had been 
slowly sinking, till at last the waters of the North Sea crept in 
and made the separation complete. 

The new-comers appear to have brought with them the knowl- 
edge of grinding and polishing stone, and of shaping it into 
hatchets, chisels, spears, and other weapons and utensils.^ 

They did not, like the race of the Rough-Stone Period, depend 
upon such chance pieces of flint as they might pick up, and 
which would be of inferior quality, but they had regular quarries 
for digging their suppHes. They also obtained polished-stone 
implements of a superior kind from the inhabitants of the con- 
tinent, which they in turn got by traffic with Asiatic countries. 

13. Government and Mode of Life. — These people were 
organized into tribes or clans under the leadership of a chief. 
They lived in villages or " pit circles," consisting of a group of 
holes dug in the ground, each large enough to accommodate a 
family. These pits were roofed over with branches covered with 
slabs of baked clay. The entrance to them was a long, inclined 
passage, through which the occupants crawled on their hands and 
knees. 

Armed with their stone hatchets, these men were able to cut 
down trees and to make log canoes in which they crossed to the 
mainland. They could also undertake those forest clearings 
which had been impossible before. The point, however, of prime 
difference and importance was their mode of subsistence. 

Thus far the only one discovered in England is the head of a horse scratched or 
cut in bone. It came from the upper cave-earth of Robin Hood Cave, in the Cress- 
well Crags, Derbyshire. See Dawkins' Early Man in Britain, page 185. 

1 Grinding or polishing stone : this was done by rubbing the tools or weapons, 
after they had been chipped into shape, on a smooth, flat stone. The natives of 
Australia still practise this art. 



6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

14. Farming and Cattle-Raising. — Unlike their predecessors, 
this second race did not depend on hunting and fishing alone, 
but were herdsmen and farmers as well. They had brought firom 
other countries such cereals as wheat and barley, and such domestic 
animals as the ox, sheep, hog, horse, and dog. Around their 
villages they cultivated fields of grain, while in the adjacent woods 
and pastures they kept herds of swine and cattle. 

15. Arts. — They had learned the art of pottery, and made 
dishes and other useful vessels of clay, which they baked in the 
fire. They raised flax and spun and wove it into coarse, substan- 
tial cloth. They may also have had woollen garments, though 
no remains of any have reached us, perhaps because they are 
more perishable than linen. 

They were men of small stature, with dark hair and complexion, 
and it is supposed that they are represented in Great Britain 
to-day by the inhabitants of Southern Wales. 

16. Burial of the Dead. — They buried their dead in long 
mounds or barrows, some of which are upward of three hun- 
dred feet in length. These barrows were often made by setting 
up large, rough slabs of stone so as to form one or more cham- 
bers which were afterward covered with earth. In some parts of 
England these burial mounds are very common, and in Wiltshire, 
several hundred occur within the limits of an hour's walk. 

During the last twenty years many of these mounds have been 
opened and carefully explored. Not only the remains of the 
builders have been discovered in them, but with them their tools 
and weapons. In addition to these, earthen dishes for holding 
food and drink have been found, placed there, it is supposed, to 
supply the wants of the spirits of the departed, as some of the 
American Indians still do in their interments. 

When a chief or great man died, it appears to have been the 
custom of the tribe to hold a funeral feast. The number of cleft 
human skulls dug up in such places has led to the belief that 
prisoners of war may have been sacrificed and their flesh eaten 
by the assembled guests in honor of the dead. Be that as it 
may, there are excellent grounds for supposing that these tribes 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS 7 

were constantly at war with each other, and that their battles 
were as fierce and as cruel as those of uncivilized races generally 
are still. 

THE BRONZE AGE 

17. The Third Race. — But great as was the progress which 
the men of the New or Polished-Stone Age had made, it was 
destined to be surpassed. A people had appeared in Europe, 
though at what date cannot yet be determined, who had discov- 
ered how to melt and mingle two important metals, copper and tin. 

18. Superiority of Bronze to Stone. — This mixture, called 
bronze, had this great advantage : a stone tool or weapon, 
though Jiard, is brittle ; but bronze is not only hard, but tough. 
Stone, again, cannot be ground to a thin cutting edge, whereas 
bronze can. 

Here, then, was a new departure. Here was a new power. 
From that period the bronze axe and the bronze sword, wielded 
by the muscular arms of a third and stronger race, became the 
symbols of a period appropriately named the Age of Bronze. 

The men thus equipped invaded Britaiii. They drove back or 
enslaved the possessors of the soil. They conquered the island, 
settled it, and held it as their own until the Roman soldiers, 
armed with swords of steel, came in turn to conquer them. 

19. Who the Bronze-Men were, and how they lived. — The 
Bronze-Men may be regarded as offshoots of the Celts, a large- 
limbed, fair-haired, fierce-eyed people, that originated in Asia, 
and overran Central and Western Europe. Like the men of the 
Age of Polished Stone, they lived in settlements under chiefs and 
possessed a rude sort of government. Their villages were built 
above ground and consisted of circular houses somewhat resem- 
bling Indian wigwams. They were constructed of wood, chinked 
in with clay, having pointed roofs covered with reeds, with an 
opening to let out the smoke and let in the light. 

Around these villages the inhabitants dug a deep ditch for 
defence, to which they added a rampart of earth surmounted by a 
palisade of stout sticks, or by felled trees piled on each other. 



8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

They kept sheep and cattle. They raised grain, which they 
deposited in subterranean storehouses for the winter. 

They not only possessed all the arts of the Stone-Men, but, in 
addition, they were skilful workers in gold, of which they made 
necklaces and bracelets. They also manufactured woollen cloth 
of various, textures and brilliant colors. 

They buried their dead in round barrows or mounds, making 
for them the same provision that the Stone-Men did. Though 
divided into tribes and scattered over a very large area, yet they 
all spoke the same language. A man who asked for bread and 
cheese in Celtic would have been understood anywhere from the 
borders of Scotland to the southern boundaries of France. 

20. Greek Account of the Bronze-Men of Britain. — At what 
time the Celts came into Britain is not known, though some 
writers suppose that it was about 500 b.c. However that may be, 
we learn something of their mode of life two centuries later from 
the narrative of Pytheas, a learned Greek navigator and geographer 
who made a voyage to Britain at that time. 

He says he saw plenty of grain growing, and that the farmers 
gathered the sheaves at harvest into large barns. There they 
threshed it under cover, for the fine weather was so uncertain in 
the island that they could not do it out of doors, as in countries 
farther south. Here, then, we have proof that the primitive 
Britons saw quite as little of the sun as their descendants do now. 
Another discovery made by Pytheas was that the farmers of that 
day had learned to make beer and liked it. So that here, again, 
the primitive Briton was in no way behind his successors. 

21. Early Tin Trade of Britain. — Of their skill in mining 
Pytheas does not speak, though from that date, and perhaps 
many centuries earlier, the inhabitants of the southern part of the 
island carried on a brisk trade in tin ore with merchants of the 
Mediterranean. 

Tradition tells us that Hiram, King of Tyre, who reigned over 
the Phoenicians, a people particularly skilful in making bronze, 
and who aided Solomon in building the Jewish temple, obtained 
supplies of tin from the British Isles. At any rate, about the 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS 9 

year 300 B.C., a certain Greek writer speaks of the country as 
then well known, calling it Albion, or the " Land of the White 
Cliffs." 

22. Introduction of Iron. — About a century after that name 
was given, the use of bronze began to be supplemented to some 
extent by the introduction of iron. Caesar tells us that rings of it 
were employed for money. The tribes in the north of the island 
may have used iron money, but the men of the south had not only 
gold and silver coins at that date, but what is more, they had 
learned how to counterfeit them. 

Such were the inhabitants the Romans found when they invaded 
Britain in the first century before the Christian era. Caesar 
looked upon these people as barbarians ; they were clad in skins, 
with their faces stained with the deep blue dye of the woad 
plant, but they proved no unworthy foemen even for his veteran 
troops. 

23. The Religion of the Primitive Britons ; the Druids. — The 
Britons held some dim faith in an overruling Power and in a life 
beyond the grave, for they offered human sacrifices to the one, 
and buried the warrior's spear with him, that he might be pro- 
vided for the other. Furthermore, the Britons when Caesar 
invaded the country had a regularly organized priesthood, the 
Druids, who appear to have worshipped the heavenly bodies. 

They dwelt in the depths of the forests, and venerated the oak 
and the mistletoe. There in the gloom and secrecy of the woods 
they raised their altars ; there, too, they offered up criminals to gain 
the favor of their gods. The Druids acted not only as interpreters 
of the divine will, but they held the savage passions of the people 
in check, and tamed them as wild beasts are tamed. 

Besides this, they were the repositories of tradition, custom, and 
law. They were also prophets, judges, and teachers. Lucan, the 
Roman poet, declared he envied them their belief in the inde- 
structibility of the soul, since it banished that greatest of all fears, 
the fear of death. Caesar tells us that " they did much inquire, 
and hand down to the youth concerning the stars and their 
motions, concerning the magnitude of the earth, concerning the 



lO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

nature of things, and the might and power of the immortal 
gods." 1 

They did more ; for they not only transmitted their beliefs and 
hopes from generation to generation, but they seem to have given 
them architectural power and permanence. The massive stone 
columns of that temple open to the sky, the ruins of which are 
still to be seen on Salisbury Plain, are supposed to be their work. 
There, on one of those fallen blocks, Carlyle and Emerson sat and 
discussed the great questions of the Druid philosophy when they 
made their pilgrimage to Stonehenge^ more than sixty years ago. 

24. What we owe to Primitive or Prehistoric Man. — The 
Romans always spoke of these people as barbarians. But we 
should bear in mind that all the progress which civilization has 
since made is built on the foundations which they slowly and 
painfully laid during unknown centuries of toil and strife. 

To them we owe the taming of the dog, horse, and other 
domestic animals, the first working of metals, the beginning of 
agriculture and mining, and the establishment of many salutary 
customs which help to bind society together to-day. 

1 See CcBsar's Gallic War, Books IV and V (for these and other references, see 
List of Books in Appendix). 

2 Stonehenge (literally, the " Hanging Stones ") : this is generally considered to 
be the remains of a Druid temple. It is situated on a plain near Salisbury, Wilt- 
shire, in the south of England. It consists of a number of immense upright stones 
arranged in two circles, an outer and an inner, with a row of flat stones partly con- 
necting thern at the top. The temple had no roof. An excellent description of it 
may be found in R. W. Emerson's EngUsh Traits. 




TWO OF THE COLUMNS AT STONEHENGE 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND II 



SECTION II 

" Father Neptune one day to Dame Freedom did say, 
' If ever I lived upon dry land, 
The spot I should hit on would be little Britain.' 
Says Freedom, * Why, that 's my own island.' 
O, 't is a snug little island, 
A right little, tight little island! 
Search the world round, none can be found 
So happy as this little island." 

T. DiBDIN. 

THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND IN RELATION TO 
ITS HISTORY! 

25. Geography and History. — As material surroundings 
strongly influence individual life, so the physical features — situa- 
tion, surface, and climate — of a country have a marked effect on 
its people and its history. 

26. The Island Form ; Race Settlements — the Romans. — The 
insular form of Britain gave it a certain advantage over the conti- 
nent during the age whQn Rome was subjugating the barbarians 
of Northern and Western Europe. As the Roman invasions of 
Britain could only be by sea, they were necessarily on a compara- 
tively small scale. 

This perhaps is one reason why the Romans did not succeed in 
establishing their language and laws in the island. They con- 
quered and held it for centuries, but they never destroyed its 
individuality ; they never Latinized it as they did France and 
Spain. 

1 As this section necessarily contains references to events in the later periods of 
English history, it may be advantageously reviewed after the pupil has reached a 
somewhat advanced stage in the course. 



12 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

27. The Saxons. — In like manner, when the power of Rome 
fell and the northern tribes overran and took possession of the 
Empire, they were in a measure shut out from Britain. Hence 
the Jutes, Saxons, and Angles could not pour down upon it in 
countless hordes, but only by successive attacks. 

This had two results : first, the native Britons were driven back 
only by degrees — thus their hope and courage were kept alive 
and transmitted; next, the conquerors settling gradually in 
different sections built up independent kingdoms. 

When in time the whole country came under one sovereignty, 
the kingdoms, which had now become shires or counties, retained 
through their chief men an important influence in the govern- 
ment, thus preventing the royal power from becoming absolute. 

28. The Danes and Normans. — In the course of the ninth, 
tenth, and eleventh centuries, the Danes invaded the island, 
got possession of the throne, and permanently established them- 
selves in the northern half of England, as the country was then 
called. 

They could not come, however, with such overwhelming force 
as either to exterminate or drive out the English, but were com- 
pelled to unite with them, as the Normans did later in their 
conquest under William of Normandy. 

Hence every conquest of the island ended in a compromise, 
and no one race got complete predominance. Eventually all 
mingled and became one people. 

29. Earliest Names : Celtic. — The steps of English history 
may be traced to a considerable extent by geographical names. 
Thus the names of most of the prominent natural features, the 
hills, and especially the streams, are British or Celtic, carrying us 
back to the Bronze Age, and perhaps even earlier. Familiar 
examples of this are found in the name, Malvern Hills, and in the 
word Avon ("the water"), which is repeated many times in 
England and Wales. 

30. Roman Names. — The Roman occupation of Britain is 
shown by the names ending in " cester," or " Chester " (a corrup- 
tion of castra, a camp). Thus Leicester, Worcester, Dorchester, 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND 1 3 

Colchester, Chester, indicate that these places were walled towns 
and military stations. 

31. Saxon Names. — On the other hand, the names of many 
of the great political divisions, especially in the south and east of 
England, mark the Saxon settlements, such as Essex (the East 
Saxons), Sussex (the South Saxons), Middlesex (the Middle or 
Central Saxons). In the same way the settlement of the two 
divisions of the Angles on the coast is indicated by the names 
Norfolk (the North folk) and Suffolk (the South folk).i 

32. Danish Names. — The conquests and settlements of the 
Danes are readily traced by the Danish termination "by" (an 
abode or town), as in Derby, Rugby, Grimsby. Hundreds of 
names oj^ places so ending may be counted. They occur with 
scarce an exception north of London. They date back to the time 
when Alfred made the Treaty of Wedmore,^ by which the Danes 
agreed to confine themselves to the northern half of the country. 

33. Norman Names. — The conquest of England by the Nor- 
mans created but few new names. These, as in the case of Rich- 
mond and Beaumont, generally show where the invading race 
built a castle or an abbey, or where, as in Montgomeryshire, they 
conquered and held a district in Wales. 

While each new invasion left its mark on the country, it will be 
seen that the greater part of the names of counties and towns 
are of Roman, Saxon, or Danish origin. With some few and com- 
paratively unimportant exceptions, the map of England remains 
to-day in this respect what those races made it more than a 
thousand years ago. 

34. Eastern and Western Britain. — As the southern and 
eastern coasts of Britain were in most direct communication with 
the continent, and were first settled, they continued until modern 
times to be the wealthiest, most civilized, and progressive part of 
the island. Much of the western portion is a rough, wild country. 
To it the East Britons retreated, keeping their primitive customs 
and language, as in Wales and Cornwall. 

1 See Map No. 6, facing page 42. 

2 Treaty of Wedmore. See Map No. 5, facing page 40. 



14 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

In all the great movements of religious or political reform, up 
to the middle of the seventeenth century, we find the people of 
the eastern half of the island on the side of a larger measure 
of liberty; while those of the western half were in favor of 
increasing the power of the king and the church. 

35. The Channel in English History. — The value of the 
Channel to England, which has already been referred to in 
its early history (§§ 26, 27), may be readily traced down to our 
own day. 

In 1264, when Simon de Montfort was endeavoring to secure 
parliamentary representation for the people, the King (Henry III) 
sought help from France. A fleet was got ready to invade the 
country and support him, but owing to unfavorable weather it was 
not able to sail in season, and Henry was obliged to concede the 
demands made for reform.^ 

Again, at the time of the threatened attack by the Spanish 
Armada, when the tempest had dispersed the enemy's fleet and 
wrecked many of its vessels, leaving only a few to creep back, 
crippled and disheartened, to the ports whence they had so 
proudly sailed, Elizabeth fully recognized the value of the 
"ocean-wall" to her dominions. 

So Napoleon's intended expedition (1804) was postponed and 
ultimately abandoned on account of a sudden and long-continued 
storm. " A few leagues of sea saved England from being forced 
to engage in a war, which, if it had not entirely trodden civiliza- 
tion under foot, would have certainly crippled it for a whole 
generation." ^ 

Finally, to quote the words of Prof. Goldwin Smith, "The 
English Channel, by exempting England from keeping up a large 
standing army [though it has compelled her to maintain a power- 
ful and expensive navy], has preserved her from military despo- 
tism, and enabled her to move steadily forward in the path of 
political progress." 

The use of steam for vessels of war has, of course, greatly dimin- 
ished the protective power of the Channel. Still, the "silver 

1 Stubbs, Select Charters, 401. 2 Madame de Remusat. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND 1 5 

streak," as the English call it, will always remain in some degree 
a defence against sudden invasion. 

36. Climate. — With regard to the climate of England, — its 
insular form, geographical position, and especially its exposure to 
the warm currents of the Gulf Stream, give it a mild temperature 
particularly favorable to the full and healthy development of both 
animal and vegetable life. 

Nowhere is found greater vigor or longevity. Charles II, 
speaking of Europe, said that he was convinced that there was 
not a country in the world, so far as he knew, where one could 
spend so much time out of doors comfortably as in England. He 
might have added that the people fully appreciate this fact and 
habituall)^ avail themselves of it. 

37. Industrial Division of England. — From an industrial and 
historical point of view, the country falls into two divisions. Let 
a line be drawn from Whitby, on the northeast coast, to Leicester, 
in the midlands, and thence to Exmouth, on the southwest coast.^ 
On the upper or northwest side of that line will lie the coal and 
iron which constitute the greater part of the mineral wealth and 
manufacturing industry of England ; and also all the large towns 
except London. 

On the lower or southeast side of it will be a comparatively 
level surface of rich agricultural land, and most of the fine old 
cathedral cities^ with their historic associations; in a word, the 
England of the past as contrasted with modern and democratic 
England, that part which has grown up since the introduction 
of steam. 

38. Commercial Situation of England. — Finally, the position 
of England with respect to commerce is worthy of note. It is 
not only possessed of a great number of excellent harbors, but it is 
situated in the most extensively navigated of the oceans, between 
the two continents having the highest civilization and the most 

1 Whitby, Yorkshire ; Exmouth, near Exeter, Devonshire. 

2 In England until recent years the cathedral towns only were called cities, but 
now the name has begun to be conferred by royal authority on other large and 
important towns, e.g., Birmingham. 



l6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

constant intercourse. Next, a glance at the map^ will show that 
geographically England is located at about the centre of the land 
masses of the globe. 

It is evident that an island so placed stands in the most favor- 
able position for easy and rapid communication with every quarter 
of the world. On this account England has been able to attain 
and maintain the highest rank among maritime and commercial 
powers. 

It is true that, since the opening of the Suez Canal, in 1869, the 
trada with the Indies and China has changed. Many cargoes of 
teas, silks, and spices, which formerly went to London, Liverpool, 
or Southampton, and were thence reshipped to different countries 
of Europe, now pass by other channels direct to the consumer. 

But aside from this, England still retains her supremacy as the 
great carrier and distributer of the productions of the earth, — a 
fact which has had and must continue to have a decided influence 
on her history and on her relations with other nations, both in 
peace and war. 

1 See Maps Nos. 12 and 19, facing pages 186 and 400. 



[58 B.C.] ROMAN BRITAIN 1 7 



SECTION III 

" Force and Right rule the world : Force, till Right is ready." 

JOUBERT. 

ROMAN BRITAIN, 55 B.C.; 43-410 A.D. 
A CIVILIZATION WHICH DID NOT CIVILIZE 

39. Europe at the Time of Caesar's Invasion of Britain. — 

Before considering the Roman invasion of Britain let us take a 
glance at the condition of Europe. We have seen that the Celtic 
tribes (§19) of the island, like those of Gaul (France), were 
not mere savages. On the contrary, we know that they had 
taken more than one important step in the path of progress ; 
still, the advance should not be overrated. For, north of the 
shores of the Mediterranean, there was no real civilization. 

Whatever gain the men of the Bronze Age had made, it was 
nothing compared to what they had yet to acquire. They had 
neither organized legislatures, written codes of law, effectively 
trained armies, nor extensive commerce. They had no great 
cities, grand architecture, literature, painting, music, or sculpture. 

Finally, they had no illustrious and imperishable names. All 
these belonged to the Republic of Rome, or to the countries to 
the south and east, which the arms of Rome had conquered. 

40. Caesar's Campaigns. — Such was the state of Europe when 
Julius Caesar, who was governor of Gaul, but who aspired to be 
ruler of the world, set out on his first campaign against the tribes 
north of the Alps (58 B.C.). 

In undertaking the war he had three objects in view : First, he 
wished to crush the power of those restless hordes that threatened 
the safety, not only of the Roman provinces, but of the Republic 
itself. Next, he sought mihtary fame as a stepping-stone to 



1 8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [55 B.C. 

supreme political power. Lastly, he wanted money to maintain 
his army and to bribe the party leaders of Rome. To this end 
every tribe which he conquered would be forced to pay him 
tribute in cash or slaves. 

41. Caesar reaches Boulogne; resolves to cross to Britain. — 
In three years Caesar had subjugated the enemy in a succession 
of victories, and a great part of Europe lay helpless at his feet. 
Late in the summer of 55 B.C. he reached that part of the coast 
of Gaul where Boulogne is now situated, opposite which one may 
see on a clear day the gleaming chalk cliffs of Dover, so vividly 
described in Shakespeare's " Lear." ^ 

While encamped on the shore he "resolved," he says, "to pass 
over into Britain, having had trustworthy information that in all 
his wars with the Gauls the enemies of the Roman Common- 
wealth had constantly received help from thence."^ 

42. Britain not certainly known to be an Island. — It was not 
known then with certainty that Britain was an island. Many con- 
fused reports had been circulated respecting that strange land in the 
Atlantic on which only a few adventurous traders had ever set foot. 

It was spoken of in literature as " another world," or, as Plutarch 
called it, "a country beyond the bounds of the habitable globe." ^ 
To that other world the Roman general, impelled by ambition, by 
curiosity, by desire of vengeance, and by love of gain, determined 
to go. 

43. Caesar's First Invasion, 55 B.C. — Embarking with a force 
of between eight and ten thousand men * in eighty small vessels, 
Caesar crossed the Channel and landed not far from Dover, where 
he overcame the Britons, who made a desperate resistance. After 
a stay of a few weeks, during which he did not leave the coast, he 
returned to Gaul. 

44. Second Invasion (54 B.C.). — The next year, a little earlier 
in the season, Caesar made a second invasion with a much larger 

1 Shakespeare's Lear, A. IV, S. 6. 2 Caesar's Gallic War, B. IV. 

3 Plutarch's Julius Caesar. 

4 Caesar is supposed to have sailed about the 25th of August, 55 B.C. His force 
consisted of two legions, the 7th and loth, A legion varied at different times from 
3000 foot and 200 horse soldiers to 6000 foot and 400 horse. 



54 B-C.-43 A.D.] ROMAN BRITAIN 1 9 

force, and penetrated the country to a short distance north of the 
Thames. Before the September gales set in, he reembarked for 
the continent, never to return. 

The total result of his two expeditions was, a number of natives 
carried as hostages to Rome, a long train of captives destined to 
be sold in the slave markets, and some promises of tribute which 
were never fulfilled. Tacitus remarks, "He did not conquer 
Britain; he only showed it to the Romans."^ 

Yet so powerful was Caesar's influence, that his invasion was 
spoken of as a splendid victory, and the Roman Senate ordered a 
thanksgiving of twenty days, in gratitude to the gods and in honor 
of the achievement. 

45. Tliird Invasion of Britain, 43 A.D. — For nearly a hundred 
years no further attempt was made, but in 43 a.d., after Rome 
had become a monarchy, the Emperor Claudius ordered a third 
invasion of Britain, in which he himself took part. 

This was successful, and after nine years of fighting, the Roman 
forces overcame Caractacus, the leader of the Britons. 

46. Caractacus carried Captive to Rome. — In company with 
many prisoners, Caractacus was taken in chains to Rome. Alone 
of all the captives, he refused to beg for life or liberty. " Can it 
be possible," said he, as he was led through the streets, " that men 
who live in such palaces as these envy us our wretched hovels ! " ^ 
"It was the dignity of the man, even in ruins," says Tacitus, 
"which saved him." The Emperor, struck with his bearing and 
his speech, ordered him to be set free. 

47. The First Roman Colony planted in Britain. — Meanwhile 
the armies of the Empire had firmly established themselves in the 
southeastern part of the island. There they formed the colony of 
Camulodunum, the modern Colchester.^ There, too, they built a 
temple and set up the statue of the Emperor Claudius, which the 
soldiers worshipped, both as a protecting god and as a representa- 
tive of the Roman state. 

48. Llyn-din.^ — The army had also conquered other places, 
among which was a little native settlement on one of the broadest 

1 Tacitus, Annals. 2 gee Map No. 2, facing page 22. 3Llyn-din (Lin-din). 



20 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [43-78 

parts of the Thames. It consisted of a few miserable huts and a 
row of entrenched cattle pens. It was called in the Celtic or 
British tongue Llyn-din or the Fort-on-the-lake. This word, which 
was pronounced with difficulty by Roman lips, eventually became 
that name which the world now knows wherever ships sail, trade- 
reaches, or history is read, — London. 

49. Expedition against the Druids. — But in order to complete 
the conquest of the country, the Roman generals saw that it would i 
be necessary to crush the power of the Druids (§23), since their 
passionate exhortations kept patriotism alive. The island of 
Mona,i now Anglesea, off the coast of Wales, was the stronghold 
to which the Druids had retreated. As the Roman soldiers 
approached to attack them, they beheld the priests and women 
standing on the shore, with upHfted hands, uttering "dreadful 
prayers and imprecations." 

For a moment they hesitated ; then, urged by their general, they ' 
rushed upon them, cut them to pieces, levelled their consecrated 
groves to the ground, and cast the bodies of the Druids into their 
own sacred fires. From this blow Druidism as an organized 
faith never recovered, though traces of its religious rites still sur- 
vive in the use of the misdetoe at Christmas and in May-day 
festivals. 

50. Revolt of Boadicea (61).— Still the power of the Latin 
legions was only partly established, for while Suetonius ^ was absent 
with his troops at Mona, a formidable revolt had broken out in 
the east. The cause of the insurrection was Roman rapacity and 
cruelty. A native chief, in order to secure half of his property to 
his family at his death, left it to be equally divided between his 
daughters and the Emperor ; but the governor of the district, 
under the pretext that his widow Boadicea had concealed part of ., 
the property, seized the whole. 

Boadicea protested. To punish her presumption she was 
stripped, bound, and scourged as a slave, and her daughters 
given up to still more brutal and infamous treatment. Maddened 
by these outrages, Boadicea roused the tribes by her appeals. 

1 See Map No. 2, facing page 22. 2 Suetonius (Sue-to'-ni-us). 



43-78] ROMAN BRITAIN 21 

They fell upon London and other cities, burned them to the 
ground, and slaughtered many thousand inhabitants. 

For a time it looked as though the whole country would be 
restored to the Britons ; but Suetonius heard of the disaster, hur- 
ried from the north, and fought a final battle, so tradition says, 
on ground within sight of where St. Paul's Cathedral now stands. 
The Roman general gained a complete victory, and Boadicea, the 
Cleopatra of the North, as she has been called, took her own 
life, rather than, like the Egyptian queen, fall into the hands of 
her conquerors. 

She died, let us trust, as the poet has represented, animated 
by the prophecy of the Druid priest that, — 

~ "Rome shall perish — write that word 

In the blood that she has spilt ; — 
Perish, hopeless and abhorred, 
Deep in ruin, as in guilt." ^ 

51. Christianity introduced into Britain. — Perhaps it was not 
long after this that Christianity made its way to Britain ; if so, 
it crept in so silently that nothing certain can be learned of its 
advent. Our only record concerning it is found in monkish 
chronicles filled with bushels of legendary chaff, from which a 
few grains of historic truth may be here and there picked out. 

The first church, it is said, was built at Glastonbury.^ It was 
a long, shed-like structure of wicker-work. " Here," says Fuller, 
" the converts watched, fasted, preached, and prayed, having 
high meditations under a low roof and large hearts within nar- 
row walls." Later there may have been more substantial edifices 
erected at Canterbury by the British Christians, but at what date 
it is impossible to say. 

At first no notice was taken of the new religion. It was the faith 
of the poor and the obscure, hence the Roman generals regarded 
it with contempt ; but as it continued to spread, it caused alarm. 

The Roman Emperor was not only the head of the state, but 
the head of religion as well. He represented the power of God 

1 Cowper's Boadicea (Bo-ad'-i-ce''-a). 2 Glastonbury, Somersetshire. 



22 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [43-78 

on earth : to him every knee must bow ; but the Christian refused 
this homage. He put Christ first ; for that reason he was danger- 
ous to the state : if he was not already a traitor and rebel, he 
was suspected to be on the verge of becoming both. 

52. Persecution of British Christians; St. Alban. — Toward 
the last of the third century the Roman Emperor Diocletian 
resolved to root out this pernicious behef. He began a course 
of systematic persecution which extended to every part of the 
Empire, including Britain. The first martyr was Alban. He 
refused to sacrifice to the Roman deities, and was beheaded. 

"But he who gave the wicked stroke," says Bede,^ with child- 
like simplicity, "was not permitted to rejoice over the deed, for 
•his eyes dropped out upon the ground together with the blessed 
martyr's head." 

Five hundred years later the abbey of St. Alban's ^ rose on the 
spot to commemorate him who had fallen there, and on his 
account that abbey stood superior to all others in power and 
privilege. 

53. Agricola explores the Coast and builds a Line of Forts (78) . 
— Agricola,^ a wise and equitable Roman ruler, became governor 
of Britain. His fleets explored the coast, and first discovered 
Britain to be an island. He gradually extended the limits of the 
government, and, in order to prevent invasion from the north, he 
built a line of forts across Caledonia, or Scotland, from the mouth 
of the river Forth to the Clyde.* 

54. The Romans clear and cultivate the Country. — From this 
date the power of Rome was finally fixed. During the period of 
three hundred years which follows, the entire surface of the coun- ^ 
try underwent a great change. Forests were cleared, marshes 
drained, waste lands reclaimed, rivers banked in and bridged. 
Furthermore the soil was made so productive that Britain became 
known in Rome as the most important grain-producing and- 
grain-exporting province in the Empire. 

1 Bede, Ecclesiastical History of Britain, completed about the year 731, 

2 St. Albans, Hertfordshire, about twenty miles northwest of London. See Map 
No. 22, facing page 416. 3 Agricola (A-gric'-o-la). 4 See Map No. 2, facing page 22. 



78-410] ROMAN BRITAIN 23 

55. Roman Cities; York. — Where the Britons had had a 
humble village enclosed by a ditch, with felled trees, to protect it, 
there rose such walled towns as Chester, Lincoln, London, and 
York, with some two score more, most of which have continued 
to be centres of population ever since. 

Of these, London early became the commercial metropolis, 
while York was acknowledged to be both the military and civil 
capital of the country. There the Sixth Legion was stationed. 
It was the most noted body of troops in the Roman army, and 
was called the "Victorious Legion." It remained there for up- 
ward of three hundred years. There, too, the governor resided 
and administered justice. For these reasons York got the name 
of " another Rome." 

It was defended by walls flanked with towers, some of which 
are still standing. It had numerous temples and public build- 
ings, such as befitted the first city of Britain. There, also, an 
event occurred in the fourth century which made an indelible 
mark on the history of mankind. For at York, Constantine, the 
subsequent founder of Constantinople, was proclaimed emperor, 
and through his influence Christianity became the estabhshed 
religion of the Empire.-^ 

56. Roman System of Government ; Roads. — During the 
Roman possession of Britain the country was differently gov- 
erned at different periods, but eventually it was divided into five 
provinces. These were intersected by a magnificent system of 
paved roads running in direct lines from city to city, and having 
London as a common centre.^ 

Across the Strait of Dover, they connected with a similar system 
of roads throughout France, Spain, and Italy, which terminated 
at Rome. Over these roads bodies of troops could be rapidly 
marched to any needed point, and by them officers of state 
mounted on relays of fleet horses could pass from one end of 
the Empire to the other in a few days' time. 

So skilfully and substantially were these highways constructed, 

1 Constantine was the first Christian emperor of Rome. The preceding emperors 
had generally persecuted the Christians. 2 See Map opposite. 



24 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [78-410 

that modern engineers have been glad to adopt them as a basis 
for their work, and the four leading Roman roads ^ continue to be 
the foundation, not only of numerous turnpikes in different parts 
of England, but also of several of the great railway lines, especially 
those from London to Chester and from London to York. 

57. Roman Forts and Walls. — Next in importance to the 
roads were the fortifications. In addition to those which Agricola 
had built (§ 53), Hadrian, a later ruler, constructed a wall of solid 
masonry entirely across the country from the shore of the North 
to that of the Irish Sea. This wall, which was about seventy-five 
miles south of Agricola' s work, was strengthened by a deep ditch 
and a rampart of earth.^ 

It was further defended by castles built at regular intervals of one 
mile. These were of stone, and from sixty to seventy feet square. 
Between them were stone turrets or watch-towers which were used 
as sentry boxes ; while at every fourth mile there was a fort, cover- 
ing from three to six acres, occupied by a large body of troops. 

58. Defences against Saxon Pirates. — But the northern tribes 
were not the only ones to be guarded against ; bands of pirates 
prowled along the east and south coasts, burning, plundering, 
and kidnapping. These marauders came from Denmark and the 
adjacent countries. 

The Britons and Romans called them Saxons, a most significant 
name if, as is generally supposed, it refers to the short, stout 
knives which made them a terror to every land on which they set 
foot. To repel them, a strong chain of forts was erected on the 
coast, extending from the Wash on the North Sea to the Isle of 
Wight on the south. 

The greater part of these cities, walls, and fortifications have 
perished. But those which remain justify the statement that " out- 
side of England no such monuments exist of the power and 
military genius of Rome." 

59. Roman Civilization False. — Yet the whole fabric was as 
hollow and false as it was splendid. Civilization, like truth, cannot 

1 The four chief roads were: i. Watling Street; 2. Icknield Street; 3. Ermine 
Street ; and 4. The Fosse Way. See Map No. 2, facing page 22. 2 gee above Map. 



78-410] ROMAN BRITAIN 25 

be forced on minds unwilling or unable to receive it. Least of all 
can it be forced by the sword's point and the taskmaster's lash. 

In order to render his victories on the continent secure, Caesar 
had not hesitated to butcher thousands of prisoners of war or 
to cut off the right hands of the entire population of a large 
settlement to prevent them from rising in revolt. 

The policy pursued in Britain, though very different, was 
equally heartless and equally fatal. There was indeed an occa- 
sional ruler who endeavored to act justly, but such cases were 
rare. Galgacus, a leader of the North Britons, said with truth of 
the Romans, " They give the lying name of Empire to robbery 
and slaughter ; they make a desert and call it peace." 

60. The Mass of the Native Population Slaves. — It is true 
that the chief cities of Britain were exempt from oppression. 
They elected their own magistrates and made their own laws, but 
they enjoyed this liberty because their inhabitants were either 
Roman soldiers or their allies. 

Outside these cities the great mass of the native population 
were bound to the soil, while a large proportion of them were 
absolute slaves. Their work was in the brick fields, the quarries, 
the mines, or in the ploughed land, or the forest. Their homes 
were wretched cabins plastered Avith mud, thatched with straw, and 
built on the estates -of masters who paid no wages. 

61 . Roman Villas. — The masters lived in stately villas adorned 
with pavements of different colored marbles and beautifully painted 
walls. These country-houses, often as large as palaces, were 
warmed in winter, Hke our modern dwellings, with currents of 
heated air. In summer they opened on terraces ornamented 
with vases and statuary, and on spacious gardens of fruits and 
flowers.^ 

62. Roman Taxation and Cruelty. — Such was the condition of 
the laboring classes. Those who were called free were hardly 
better off, for nearly all that they could earn was swallowed up in 
taxes. The standing army of Britain, which the people of the 

1 About one hundred of these villas or country-houses, chiefly in the south and 
southwest of England, have been exhumed. Some of them cover several acres. 



26 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [78-410 

country had to support, rarely numbered less than forty thousand. 
The population was not only scanty, but it was poor. Every 
farmer had to pay a third of all that his farm could produce, in 
taxes. Every article that he sold had also to pay duty, and finally 
there was a poll-tax on the man himself. 

On the continent there was a saying that it was better for a 
property-owner to fall into the hands of savages than into those of 
the Roman assessors. When they went round, they counted not 
only every ox and sheep, but every plant, and registered them as 
well as the owners. " One heard nothing," says a writer of that 
time, speaking of the days when revenue was collected, " but the 
sound of flogging and all kinds of torture. The son was compelled 
to inform against his father, and the wife against her husband. If 
other means failed, men were forced to give evidence against 
themselves, and were assessed according to the confession they 
made to escape torment." ^ 

So great was the misery of the land that it was not an uncom- 
mon thing for parents to destroy their children, rather than let 
them grow up to a life of suffering. This vast system of organized 
oppression, like all tyranny, "was not so much an institution 
as a destitution," undermining and impoverishing the country. 
It lasted until time brought its revenge, and Rome, which 
had crushed so many nations of barbarians, was in her turn 
threatened with a like fate, by bands of barbarians stronger than 
herself. 

03. The Romans compelled to abandon Britain, 410. — When 
Caesar returned from his victorious campaigns in Gaul in the first 
century B.C., Cicero exultantly exclaimed, " Now, let the Alps 
sink ! the gods raised them to shelter Italy from the barbarians ; 
they are no longer needed." For nearly five centuries that con- 
tinued true ; then the tribes of Northern Europe could no longer 
be held back. When the Roman emperors saw that the crisis had 
arrived, they recalled the legions from Britain. The rest of the 
colonists soon followed. 

For the year 409 we find this brief but expressive entry in the 

1 Lactantius. See Elton's Origins of English History. 



78-410] . ROMAN BRITAIN 2/ 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle/ " After this the Romans never ruled in 
Britain." A few years lafter this entry occurs : "418. This year 
the Romans collected all the treasures in Britain ; some they hid 
in the earth, so that no one since has been able to find them, and 
some they carried with them into Gaul." 

64. Remains of Roman Civilization. — In the course of the 
next three generations whatever Roman civiHzation had accom- 
plished in the island, politically and socially, had disappeared. A 
few words, indeed, such as " port " and '^ street," have come down 
to us. Save these, nothing is left but the material shell, — the 
walls, roads, forts, villas, arches, gateways, altars, and tombs, the 
ruins of which are still to be seen scattered throughout the land. 

The soil, also, is full of relics of the same kind. Twenty feet 
below the surface of the London of to-day he the remains of the 
London of the Romans. In digging in the " city," ^ the laborer's 
shovel every now and then brings to Hght bits of rusted armor, 
broken swords, fragments of statuary, and gold and silver ornaments. 

So, likewise, several towns, long buried in the earth, and the 
foundations of upwards of a hundred country-houses, have been 
discovered ; but these seem to be about all. If Rome left any 
traces of her literature, law, and methods of government, they are 
so doubtful that they serve only as subjects for antiquarians to 
wrangle over.^ 

Were it not for the stubborn endurance of ivy-covered ruins 
Hke those of Pevensey, Chester, and York, and of that gigantic 
wall of masonry^ which still stretches across the bleak moors 

1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle : the earliest English history. It was probably begun 
in the ninth century, in the reign of Alfred. It extends, in different copies, from 
Caesar's invasion until the beginning of the reign of Henry II, 11 54. It is supposed 
that the work was written in Canterbury, Peterborough, and other monasteries. 
The first part of it is evidently based on tradition ; but the whole is of great value, 
especially from the time of Alfred. 

2 The " city," — that part of London formerly enclosed by Roman walls, together 
with a small outlying district. Its limit on the west is the site of Temple Bar ; on 
the east, the Tower of London. 

3 Scarth, Pearson, Guest, Elton, and Coote believe that Roman civilization had 
a permanent influence ; while Lappenburg, Stubbs, Freeman, Green, Wright, and 
Gardiner deny it. 

4 See Map No. 2, facing page 22. 



28 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [78-410 

of Northumberland, we might well doubt whether there ever was a 
time when the Caesars held Britain in their relentless grasp. 

65. Good Results of the Roman Conquest of Britain. — Still, it 
would be an error to suppose that the conquest and occupation of 
the island had no results for good. Had Rome fallen a century 
earher, the world would have been the loser by it, for during that 
century the inhabitants of Gaul and Spain were brought into 
closer contact than ever with the only power then existing which 
could teach them the lesson they were prepared to learn. 

Unlike the Britons, they adopted the Latin language for their 
own ; they made themselves acquainted with its literature and 
aided in its preservation ; they accepted the Roman law and the 
Roman idea of government ; lastly, they acknowledged the influ- 
ence of the Christian church, and, with Constantine's help, they 
organized it on a soHd foundation. 

Had Rome fallen a prey to the invaders in 318 instead of 410,^ 
it is doubtful if any of these results would have taken place, 
and it is almost certain that the last and most important of all 
could not. 

Britain furnished Rome with abundant food supplies, and sent 
thousands of troops to serve in the Roman armies on the continent. 
Britain also supported the numerous colonies which were con- 
stantly emigrating to her from Italy, and thus kept open the lines 
of communication with the mother-country. 

By so doing she helped to maintain the circulation of the life- 
currents in the remotest branches of the Roman Empire. Because 
of this, that Empire was able to resist the barbarians until the 
seeds of the old civilization had time to root themselves and to 
spring up with promise of a new and nobler growth. 

In itself, then, though the island gained practically nothing from 
the Roman occupation, yet through it mankind was destined to 
gain much. During these centuries the story of Britain is that 
which history so often repeats, — a part of Europe was sacrificed 
that the whole might not be lost. 

1 Rome was plundered by the Goths in 410 ; the Empire fell in 476. 




ROMAN WALL (at Cuddy's Crag, Northumberland) 




ROMAN ROAD (Salisbury Plain, o 1 e see the distance) 



443] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 29 



SECTION IV 



The happy ages of history are never the productive ones." 

Hegel. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS, OR ENGLISH, 
449 A.D. 

BATTLES OF THE TRIBES — BRITAIN BECOMES ENGLAND 

66. Condition of the Britons after the Romans left the Island. 

— Three hundred and fifty years of Roman law and order had 
completely tamed the fiery aborigines of the island. iVfter the 
legions abandoned it, Gildas,^ " the British Jeremiah," as Gibbon 
calls him, declared that the Britons were no longer brave in war 
or faithful in peace. 

Certainly their condition was both precarious and perilous. 
On the north they were assailed by the Picts, on the northwest 
by the Scots/ on the south and east by the Saxons. What was 
perhaps worst and most dangerous of all, they quarrelled among 
themselves over points of theological doctrine. 

They had, indeed, the love of liberty, but not the spirit of 
unity. The consequence was, that their enemies, bursting in on 
all sides, cut them down, says Bede, as "reapers cut down ripe 
grain." 

67. Letter to Aetius (443). — At length the chief men of the 
country joined in a piteous and pusillanimous letter begging 
help from Rome. It was addressed as follows : " To Aetius, 

1 Gildas : a British monk, 5i6(?)-57o(?). He wrote an account of the Saxon 
conquest of Britain. 

2 Picts : ancient tribes of the north and northeast of Scotland ; Scots : originally 
inhabitants of Ireland, some of whom settled in the west of Scotland and gave their 
name to the whole country. 



30 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [443-449 

Consul^ for the third time, the groans of the Britons." The letter 
summed up their calamities in these words : " The barbarians 
drive us to the sea, the sea drives us back to the barbarians; 
between them we are either slain or drowned." Aetius, however, 
was fighting the enemies of Rome at home, and left the Britons 
to shift for themselves. 

68. Vortigern's Advice. — Finally, in their desperation, they 
adopted the advice of Vortigern, a chief of Kent. He urged 
them to fight fire with fire, by inviting a band of Saxons to form 
an alliance with them against the Picts and Scots. The proposal 
was very readily accepted by a tribe of Jutes. 

They, with the Angles and Saxons, occupied the peninsula of 
Jutland, or Denmark, and the seacoast to the south of it. All of. 
them were known to the Britons under the general name of Saxons. 

69. Coming of the Jutes (449). — Gildas records their arrival 
in characteristic terms, saying that " in 449 a multitude of whelps 
came from the lair of the barbaric lioness, in three keels, as they 
call them." 2 

We get a good picture of what they were like from the exultant 
song of their countryman, Beowulf.^ He describes with pride " the 
dragon-prowed ships," filled with sea-robbers, armed with "rough- 
handled spears and swords of bronze," which under their leaders 
sailed for the shining coasts of Britain. 

These three keels, or war-ships, under the command of the 
chieftains Hengist and Horsa, were destined to grow into a king- 
dom. Settling at first, according to agreement, in the island of 
Thanet, near the mouth of the Thames,^ the Jutes soon fulfilled 
their contract to free the country from the ravages of the Picts. 
Afterward they easily found a pretext for seizing the fairest 

1 Consul : originally one of two chief magistrates governing Rome ; later the 
consuls ruled over the chief provinces, and sometimes commanded armies. Still 
later they became wholly subject to the emperors, and had little, if any, real power 
of their own. 

2 See Map No. 3, facing page 34. 

3 Beowulf : the hero of the earliest Anglo-Saxon or English epic poem. It is 
uncertain whether it was written on the continent or in England. Some authorities 
refer it to the ninth century, others to the fifth. 

4 See Map No. 5, facing page 40. 



449-490] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 3 1 

portion of Kent for themselves and their kinsmen, who came, 
vulture-like, in ever-increasing multitudes. 

70. Invasion by the Saxons (477). — The success of the Jutes 
incited their neighbors, the Saxons, who came under the leader- 
ship of Ella, and Cissa, his son, for their share of the spoils. They 
conquered a part of the country bordering on the Channel, and, 
settling there, gave it the name of Sussex, or the country of the 
South Saxons.^ 

We learn from two sources how the land was wrested from the 
native inhabitants. On the one side is the account given by the 
British monk Gildas ; on the other, that of the Saxon or EngHsh 
Chronicle (§ 135). 

Both "-agree that it was gained by the edge of the sword, with 
burning, pillaging, massacre, and captivity. " Some," says Gildas, 
" were caught in the hills and slaughtered ; others, worn out with 
hunger, gave themselves up to lifelong slavery. Some fled across 
the sea ; others trusted themselves to the clefts of the mountains, 
to the forests, and to the rocks along the coast." By the Saxons 
we are told that the Britons fled before them ''as from fire." 

71. Siege of Anderida (490). — Again, the Chronicle tersely 
says : " In 490 Ella and Cissa besieged Anderida (the modern 
Pevensey)^ and put to death all who dwelt there, so that not 
a single Briton remained alive in it." 

When, however, they took a fortified town like Anderida, they 
did not occupy, but abandoned it. So the place stands to-day, 
with the exception of a Norman castle built there in the eleventh 
century, just as the invaders left it. 

Accustomed as they were to a wild life, they hated the restraint 
and scorned the protection of stone walls. It was not until after 
many generations had passed that they became reconciled to live 
within them. 

In the same spirit they refused to appropriate anything which 
Rome had left. They burned the villas, killed or enslaved the 
serfs who tilled the soil, and seized the land to form rough 
settlements of their own. 

1 See Map facing page 40. ^ Pevensey : coast of Sussex, Map No. 4, facing page 38. 



32 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [495-520 

72. Settlement of Wessex, Essex, and Middlesex (495). — 

After Sussex was established (§ 70), bands came over under 
Cerdic. They conquered a territory to which they gave the 
name of Wessex, or the country of the West Saxons. 

About the same time other invaders settled in the country 
north of the Thames, which became known as Essex and Middle- 
sex, or the land of the East and the Middle Saxons.^ 

73. Invasion by the Angles (547). — Finally there came from 
a little corner south of the peninsula of Denmark (a region which 
still bears the name of Angeln) a tribe of Angles, who took 
possession of all of Eastern Britain not already appropriated. 

Eventually they came to have control over the greater part of 
the land, and from them all the other tribes took the name of 
Angles, or English. 

74. Bravery of the Britons. — Long before this last settlement 
was complete, the Britons had plucked up courage, and had, to 
some extent, joined forces to save themselves from utter exter- 
mination. They were naturally a brave people. The fact that 
it took the Saxons or English more than a hundred years to get a 
firm hold on the island shows that the Britons, though weakened 
by Roman tyranny, fell back on what pugilists call their " second 
strength;"- They fought valiantly and gave up the country inch 
by inch only. 

75. King Arthur checks the Invaders (520). — If we may 
trust tradition, the English or Saxons received their first decided 
check at Badbury, in Dorsetshire.^ Here they were met by that 
famous Arthur, the legend of whose deeds has come down to us, 
retold in Tennyson's " Idylls of the King." He stopped them 
in their march of insolent triumph. With his irresistible sword 
" Excalibur " and his stanch Welsh spearsmen, he seems to have 
proved to them, at least, that he was not a myth, but a man ^ 
able " to break the heathen and uphold the Christ." 

1 See Map No. 3, facing page 34. 

2 See Map No. 4, facing page 38 (Mt. Badon, Wessex, in south of England). 

3 On Arthur, see the Dictionary of (EngUsh) National Biography, II ; and com- 
pare Freeman's Old English History. 



520-597] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 33 

76. The Britons driven into the West. — But though tempo- 
rarily brought to a stand, the heathen were neither to be expelled 
nor driven back. They had come to stay. 

At last the Britons were forced to take refuge among the hills 
of Wales. There they continued to abide unconquered and 
unconquerable by force alone. That ancient stock never lost 
its love of liberty, and more than eleven centuries later Thomas 
Jefferson and several of the other fifty-five signers of the Declara- 
tion of American Independence were either of Welsh birth or of 
direct Welsh descent. 

77. Gregory and the English Slaves. — The next period, of 
nearly eighty years, until the coming of Augustine, is a dreary 
record -of constant bloodshed. Out of their very barbarism, 
however, a regenerating influence was to arise. 

In their greed for gain, some of the English tribes did not 
hesitate to sell their own children into bondage. A number of 
these slaves, exposed in the Roman forum, attracted the attention, 
as he was passing, of a monk named Gregory. 

Struck with the beauty of their clear, ruddy complexions and 
fair hair, he inquired from what country they came. '^ They are 
Angles," was the dealer's answer. " No, not Angles, but angels," 
answered the monk, and he resolved that, should he ever have 
the power, he would send missionaries to convert a race of so 
much promise.-^ 

78. Coming of Augustine, 597. — When Gregory became the 
head of the Roman Church he fulfilled his resolution, and sent 
Augustine with a band of forty monks to Britain. In 597 they 
landed on the very spot where Hengist and Horsa (§ 69) had 
disembarked nearly one hundred and fifty years before. Like 
C^sar and his legions, they brought with them the power of 
Rome. But this time that power came not as a force from with- 
out to crush men in the iron mould of submission and uniformity, 
but as a persuasive voice to arouse and cheer them with new hope. 

Providence had already prepared the way. Ethelbert, King of 
Kent, had married Bertha, a French princess, who in her own 
1 Bede's Ecclesiastical History. 



34 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [597 

country had become a convert to Christianity. The Saxons, or 
English, at that time were wholly pagan, and had, in all proba- 
bility, destroyed every vestige of the faith for which the British 
martyrs gave their lives. 

79. Augustine converts the King of Kent and his People 
(597) • — Through the Queen's influence, Ethelbert was induced 
to receive Augustine. He was afraid, however, of some magical 
practice, so he insisted that their meeting should take place in 
the open air and on the island of Thanet.^ 

The historian Bede represents the monks as advancing to salute 
the King, holding a tall silver cross in their hands and a picture of 
Christ painted on an upright board. 

Augustine dehvered his message, was well received, and invited 
to Canterbury, the capital of Kent. There the King became a 
convert to his preaching, and before the year had passed ten 
thousand of his subjects had received baptism ; for to gain the 
King was to gain his tribe as well. 

80. Augustine builds the First Monastery. — At Canterbury 
Augustine became the first archbishop over the first cathedral. 
There, too, he erected the first monastery in which to train mis- 
sionaries to carry on the work which he had begun. A building 
is still in use for that purpose, and it continues to bear the name 
of the man who brought Christianity to that part of Britain. The 
example of the ruler of Kent was not without its effect on others. 

81. Conversion of the North. — The North of England, how- 
ever, owed its conversion chiefly to the Irish monks of an earlier 
age. - They had planted monasteries in Ireland and Scotland from 
which colonies went forth, one of which settled at Lindisfarne, 
in Durham. . Cuthbert, a Saxon monk of that monastery in the 
seventh century, travelled as a missionary throughout Northumbria, 
and was afterward recognized as the saint of the North. Through 
his influence that kingdom was induced to accept Christianity. 
Others, too, went to other districts. 

In one case an aged chief arose in an assembly of warriors and 
said : " O king, as a bird flies through this hall in the winter night, 

1 See Map No. 4, facing page 38. 



THE CON^QUEST OF BRITATN^ 

BY THE 
LOW GERMAN TRIBES 



SAXONS, JUTES & ANGLES(OR ENGLISH) 




THULE 4l' 
(Shetlanda^CO 



Home of tJie Norse 
or Northmen 




6oo-7oo] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 35 

coming out of the darkness and vanishing into it again, even such 
is our life. If these strangers can tell us aught of what is beyond, 
let us give heed to them." 

But Bede informs us that, notwithstanding their success, some 
of the new converts were too cautious to commit themselves 
entirely to the strange religion. One king, who had set up a 
large altar devoted to the worship of Christ, very prudently set 
up a smaller one at the other end of the hall to the old heathen 
deities, in order that he might make sure of the favor of both. 

82. Christianity organized ; Labors of the Monks. — Gradually, 
however, the pagan faith was dropped. Christianity was largely 
organized by bands of monks and nuns. Monasteries existed or 
were now established at Lindisfarne,^ Wearmouth, Whitby, and 
Jarrow in the north, and at Peterborough and St. Albans in the east. 

These monasteries were educational as well as industrial cen- 
tres. Part of each day was spent by the monks in manual toil, 
for they held, that " to labor is to pray." They cleared the land, 
drained the bogs, ploughed, sowed, and reaped. 

Another part of the day they spent in religious exercises, and a 
third in writing, translating, and teaching. 

A school was attached to each monastery, and each had, besides 
its librai-y of manuscript books, its room for the entertainment of 
travellers and pilgrims. In these libraries important charters and 
laws relating to the kingdom were preserved. 

83. Literary Work of the Monks. — It was at Jarrow that Bede 
wrote in rude Latin the church history of England. It was at 
Whitby that the poet Caedmon^ composed his jDoem on the Crea- 
tion, in which, a thousand years before Milton, he dealt with 
Milton's theme in Milton's spirit. 

It was at Peterborough and Canterbury that the Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle was probably begun (§ 135). It was not only the first 
English history, but the first English book, and the one from which 

1 Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland (Map No. 4, facing 
page 38). See Scott's Marmion, Canto II, 9-10. Wearmouth and Jarrow are in 
Durham, Whitby in Yorkshire, and Peterborough in Northamptonshire. 

2 Csedmon (Kadmon). 



36 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [600-787 

we derive much of our knowledge of the time from the Roman 
conquest down to a period after the coming of the Normans. 
Later, that history was taken up in the abbeys of Mahnesbury and 
St. Alban's ^ and continued by William of Malmesbury and Matthew 
Paris. From these monasteries, too, an influence went out which 
eventually revived learning throughout Europe. 

84. Influence of Christianity on Society. — But the work of 
Christianity for good did not stop with these things. The Church 
had an important social influence. It took the side of the weak, 
the suffering, and the oppressed. Although the Church itself held 
slaves, yet it shielded the slave from ill-usage. It secured for him 
Sunday as a day of rest, and it often labored effectually for his 
emancipation. 

85. Political Influence of Christianity (664) . — More than this, 
Christianity had a powerful pohtical influence. A synod, or 
council, was held at Whitby (664) to decide when Easter should 
be observed. 

To that meeting, which was presided over by the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, delegates were sent from all parts of the country. 
After a protracted debate the synod decided in favor of the 
Roman custom, and thus all the churches were brought into 
agreement. 

In this way, at a period when the country was divided into 
hostile kingdoms of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, each struggling 
fiercely for the mastery, there was a spirit of true religious unity 
growing up. 

The bishops, monks, and priests, gathered at Whitby, were 
from tribes at open war with each other. But in that, and 
other conferences which followed,^ they felt that they had a 
common interest, that they were fellow-countrymen, that they 
were all members of the same Church and were laboring for 
the same end. 

86. Egbert (787). — But during the next hundred and fifty 
years the chief indication outside the Church of any progress 

1 Malmesbury, Wiltshire ; St. Alban's, near London. 

2 See Constitutional Summary (Appendix), §4. 



787-839] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 37 

toward consolidation was in the growing power of the kingdom 
of Wessex. 

Egbert, a direct descendant of Cerdic, the first chief and King 
of the country, laid claim to the throne (787). Another claim- 
ant arose, who gained the day, and Egbert, finding that his life 
was in danger, fled the country. 

87. Egbert at the Court of Charlemagne (787-800). — He 
escaped to France, and there took refuge at the court of King 
Charlemagne, where he remained thirteen years. Charlemagne had 
conceived the gigantic project of resuscitating the Roman Empire. 
To accomplish that, he had engaged in a series of wars, and so 
far conquered his enemies that he was crowned (800) Emperor 
of the Romans by the Pope. 

88. Egbert becomes ''King of the English," 828. —That 
very year the King of Wessex died, and Egbert was summoned 
to take his place. He went back impressed with the success 
of the French King and ambitious to imitate him. Twenty-three 
years after that, we hear of him fighting the tribes in Mercia, or 
Central Britain. 

His army is described as " lean, palej and long-breathed " ; 
but with those cadaverous troops he conquered and reduced the 
Mercians to subjection. Other victories followed, and in 828 he 
brought all the sovereignties of England into vassalage. He now 
ventured to assume the title, which he had fairly won, of " King 
of the English." ^ That title marks the beginning of a new period 
in the history of the island. 

89. Britain becomes England. — The Celts had called the land 
Albion; the Romans, Britain^; the country now called itself 
Angle-Land, or England. 

Three causes had brought about this consolidation, to which 
each people had contributed part. The Jutes of Kent encour- 
aged the foundation of the national Church ; the Angles gave the 
national name, the West Saxons furnished the national king. 

1 In a single charter, dated 828, he calls himself " Egbert, by the grace of God, 
King of the English." 

2 Britain : nothing definite is known of the origin or meaning of this word. 



38 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [871 

From Egbert as a royal source, every subsequent English sover- 
eign (except the four Danish kings, Harold IT, and William the 
Conqueror) has directly or indirectly descended down to the pres- 
ent time. (See Table of Royal Descent in Appendix.) 

90. Alfred the Great (871-901). — Of these the most conspic- 
uous during the period of which we are writing was Alfred, of 
whose accession we shall presently speak. He was a grandson 
of Egbert. He was rightly called Alfred the Great, since he was 
the embodiment of whatever was best and bravest in the English 
character. The keynote of his hfe may be found in the words 
which he spoke at the close of it, " So long as I have lived, I 
have striven to live worthily." 

91 . Invasion by the Danes, or Northmen (871 ) . — When Alfred 
came to the throne (871), through the death of his brother 
Ethelred, the Danes, or Northmen,^ were sweeping down on the 
country. A few months before that event Alfred had aided his 
brother in a desperate struggle with them. 

In the beginning the object of the Danes was to plunder, later 
to possess, and finally to rule over the country. In the year 
Alfred came to the throne they had already overrun a large por- 
tion and invaded Wessex. Wherever their raven-flag appeared, 
there destruction and slaughter followed. 

92. The Danes, or Northmen, destroy the Monasteries. — The 
monasteries were the especial objects of their attacks. Since 
their establishment many of them had accumulated wealth and 
had sunk into habits of idleness and luxury. The Danes, without 
intending it, came to scourge these vices. 

From the thorough way in which they robbed, burned, and 
murdered, there can be no doubt that they enjoyed what some 
might think was their providential mission. 

In their helplessness and terror, the panic-stricken monks 
added to their usual prayers this fervent petition : " From the 
fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us ! " The power 
raised up to answer that supphcation was Alfred. 

1 The Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians went under the common name of 
Northmen. 




Christianity was introduced into North Humberland at this period (see § 8i); and for a short time 
Edwin, King- of North Humberland, became, says the Chronicle, " lord over all Britain, save 
Kent alone." 



1 



871-878] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 39 

93. Alfred's Victories over the Danes ; the White Horse. — 

After repeated defeats he, with his brother, finally drove back 
these savage hordes, who thought it a shame to earn by sweat 
what they could win by blood. They boasted that they would 
fight in paradise even as they had fought on earth, and would 
celebrate their victories with foaming draughts of ale drunk from 
the skulls of their enemies. 

In these attacks Alfred led one-half the army, Ethelred the 
other. They met the Danes at Ashdown Ridge in Berkshire.-^ 
While Ethelred stopped to pray for success, Alfred, under the 
banner of the "White Horse," — the common standard of the 
Anglo-Saxons at that time, — began the attack and won the day. 

Tradiiion declares that after the victory he ordered his army 
to commemorate their triumph by carving that colossal figure of 
a horse on the side of a neighboring chalk-hill, which still remains 
so conspicuous an object in the landscape. It was shortly after 
this that Alfred became king ; but the war, far from being ended, 
had in fact but just begun. 

94. The Danes compel Alfred to retreat. — The Danes, re- 
inforced by other invaders, overcame Alfred's forces and com- 
pelled him to retreat. He fled to the wilds of Somersetshire, and 
was glad to take up his abode for a time, so the story runs, 
in a peasant's hut. Subsequently he succeeded in rallying part of 
his people, and built a stronghold on a piece of rising ground, in 
the midst of an almost impassable morass. There he remained 
during the winter. 

95. Great Victory by Alfred; Treaty of Wedmore (878). — 
In the spring he marched forth and again attacked the Danes. 
They were entrenched in a camp at Edington, Wiltshire. Alfred 
surrounded them, and starved them into complete submission. 
Guthrum, the Danish leader, swore a peace, called the Peace or 
Treaty of Wedmore.^ He sealed the oath ^vith his baptism, — an ad- 
mission that Alfred had not only beaten, but converted him as well. 

1 See Map No. 5, facing page 40. Ashdown is west of London. 

2 See above Map. Wedmore (the Wet Moor) is in Wessex (Somersetshire), in the 
southwest of England. 



40 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [878-901 

96. Terms of the Treaty. — By the Treaty of Wedmore (878) 
the Danes bound themselves to remain north and east of a Hne 
drawn from London to Chester, following the old Roman road 
called Watling Street. All south of this line, including a district 
around London, was recognized as the dominions of Alfred, whose 
chief city, or capital, was Winchester. 

By this treaty the Danes got much the larger part of England, 
but they acknowledged Alfred as their overlord. He thus be- 
came nominally what his predecessor, Egbert (§ 88), had claimed 
to be, — the King of the whole country.^ 

97. Alfred's Laws ; his Translations. — He proved himself to 
be more than mere ruler; for he was law-giver and teacher as 
well. Through his efforts a written code was compiled, prefaced 
by the Ten Commandments and ending with the Golden Rule. 
Alfred added, referring to the introduction, " He who keeps this 
shall not need any other law-book." 

Next, that learning might not utterly perish in the ashes of the 
abbeys and monasteries which the Danes had destroyed, the King, 
though feeble and suffering, set himself to translate from the 
Latin the Universal History of Orosius, and also Bede's History 
of England. He afterward rendered into Enghsh the Reflec- 
tions of the Roman Senator Boethius on the Supreme Good, 
an inquiry written by the latter while in prison, under sentence 
of death. 

98. Alfred's Navy. — Alfred, however, still had to combat the 
Danes, who continued to make descents upon the coast, and even 
sailed up the Thames to take London. He constructed a superior 
class of fast-sailing war-vessels from designs made by himself. 
With this fleet, which may be regarded as the beginning of the 
English navy, he fought the enemy on their own element. He 
thus effectually checked a series of invasions which, had they 
continued, might have eventually reduced the country to primi- 
tive barbarism. 

99. Estimate of Alfred's Reign. — Considered as a whole, 
Alfred's reign is the most noteworthy of any in the annals of the 

1 See Map No. 5, facing page 40. 



901-975] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 4I 

early English sovereigns. It was marked throughout by intelli- 
gence and progress. 

His life speaks for itself. The best commentary on it is the 
fact that, in 1849, the people of Wantage/ his native place, cele- 
brated the thousandth anniversary of his birth, — another proof 
that "what is excellent, as God lives, is permanent." ^ 

100. Dunstan's Reforms. — Two generations after Alfred's 
death Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, came forward to take 
up and push onward the work begun by the great King. He was 
the ablest man in an age when all statesmen were ecclesiastics. 
He labored for higher education, for strict monastic rule, and for 
the celibacy of the monks. 

101. J^egular and Secular Clergy At that time the clergy 

of England were divided into two classes, — the "regulars," or 
monks, and the " seculars," or parish priests and other clergy not 
bound by monastic vows. 

The former lived in the monasteries apart from the world; the 
latter lived in it. By their monastic vows^ the "regulars" were 
bound to remain unmarried, while the "seculars " were not. 

Notwithstanding Alfred's efforts at reform, many monasteries 
had relaxed their rules and were again filled with drones. In 
violation of their vows of celibacy, large numbers of the monks 
were married. Furthermore, many new churches had been 
endowed and put into the hands of the "seculars." 

102. Danger to the State from Each Class of Clergy. — The 
danger was that this laxity would go on increasing, so that in time 
the married clergy would monopolize the clerical influence and 
clerical wealth of the kingdom for themselves and their families. 

They would thus become an hereditary body, a close corpora- 
tion, transmitting their power and possessions from father to son 
through generations. 

On the other hand, the tendency of the unmarried clergy 

1 Wantage (west of London), Berkshire.; See|Map No. 4, facing page Ti^. 

2 R. W. Emerson's Poems. ', 

3 The monastic vows required poverty, chastity, and obedience to the rules of 
their order. 



42 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [975-992 

would be to become wholly subservient to the Church and the 
Pope, though they must necessarily recruit their ranks from the 
people. 

In this last respect they would be more democratic than the 
opposite class. They would also be more directly connected with 
national interests and the national life, while at the same time 
they would be able to devote themselves more exclusively to study 
and to intellectual culture than the " seculars." 

103. Dunstan as a Statesman and Artisan. — In addition to 
these reforms, Dunstan (§ 100) proved himself to be as clever a 
statesman as theologian. He undertook, with temporary success, 
to reconcile the conflicting interests of the Danes and the English. 
He was also noted as a mechanic and worker in metals. The 
common people regarded his accomplishments in this direction 
with superstitious awe. 

Many stories of his skill were circulated, and it was even 
whispered that in a personal contest with Beelzebub, it was the 
devil and not the monk who got the worst of it and fled from the 
saint's workshop, howling with dismay. 

104. New Invasions ; Danegeld (992). — With the close of 
Dunstan's career, the period of decline sets in. Fresh inroads 
began on the part of the Northmen (§ 91). The resistance to 
them became feeble and faint-hearted. At last a royal tax, 
called Danegeld, or Dane-money (992), was levied on all landed 
property in order to raise means to buy off the invaders. For a 
brief period this cowardly concession answered the purpose. But 
a time came when the Danes would no longer be bribed to 
keep away. 

105. The Northmen invade France. — The Danish invasion was 
really a part of a great European movement. The same North- 
men who had obtained so large a part of England had also, in 
the tenth century, under the leadership of Rollo, established them- 
selves in France. 

There they were known as Normans, a softened form of the 
word " Northmen," and the district where they settled came to 
be called from them Normandy. They founded a line of dukes, 



1013-1035] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 43 

or princes, who were destined, in the course of the next century, 
to give a new aspect to the events of P^nglish history. 

106. Sweyn conquers England ; Canute^ ( 1 017-1035 ) . — Sweyn, 
the Dane, conquered England (1013), and "all the people," says 
the Chronicle, "held him for full king." He was succeeded by 
his son Canute (1017). He was from beyond the sea, but could 
hardly be called a foreigner, since he spoke a language and set up 
a government differing but httle from that of the English. 

After his first harsh measures were over he sought the friend- 
ship of both Church and people. He gave the country peace. 
He rebuked the flattery of courtiers by showing them that the 
in-rolling tide is no respecter of persons ; he endeavored to 
rule jusiiy, and his liking for the monks found expression in 
his song : — 

" Merrily sang the monks of Ely 
As Cnut the King was passing by." 

107. Canute's Plan ; the Four Earldoms. — Canute's plan was 
to establish a great northern empire embracing Denmark, Norway, 
Sweden, and England. To facilitate the government of so large 
a realm, he divided England into four districts, Wessex, Mercia, 
East Anglia, and Northumbria, which, with their dependencies, 
embraced the entire country. 

Each of these districts was ruled by an earl^ invested with 
almost royal power. For a time the arrangement worked well, 
but eventually discord sprang up between the rulers. Their indi- 
vidual ambition and their efforts to obtain supreme authority 
imperilled the unity of the country. 

108. Prince Edward. — On the accession of the Danish con- 
queror Sweyn (§ 106), Ethelred H, the Saxon King, sent his French 
wife Emma back to Normandy for safety. She took with her her 
son, Prince Edward, then a lad of nine. He remained at the 
French court nearly thirty years, and among other friends to whom 

1 Also spelled Cnut and Knut. 

2 Earl (" chief " or " leader ") : a title of honor and of office. The four earldoms 
I established by Canute remained nearly unchanged until the Norman Conquest, 1066. 
I See Map No. 6, facing page 42. 



44 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1042-1066 

he became greatly attached was his second cousin, William, Duke 
of Normandy. 

109. Restoration of the English Kings ; Edward the Confessor 
(1042-1066). — The oppressive acts of Canute's sons excited 
insurrection (1042), and both Danes and Saxons joined in the 
determination to restore the Saxon hne. Edward was invited to 
accept the crown. He returned to England and obtained the 
throne. By birth he was already half Norman; by education 
and tastes he was wholly so. 

It is very doubtful whether he could speak a word of Enghsh, 
and it is certain that from the beginning he surrounded himself 
with French favorites, and filled the Church with French priests. 
Edward's piety and blameless hfe gained for him the title of " the 
Confessor," or, as we should say to-day, " the Christian." 

He married the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the most 
powerful noble in England. Godwin really ruled the country in 
the King's name until his death (1053), when his son Harold 
succeeded him as earl. The latter continued to exercise his 
father's influence to counteract the French. 

no. Edward builds Westminster Abbey. — During a large 
part of his reign Edward was engaged in building an abbey at 
the west end of London, and hence called the West-minster.^ 
He had just completed and consecrated this great work when 
he died, and was buried there. We may still see a part of his 
building in the crypt or basement of the abbey, while the King's 
tomb above is the centre around which Hes a circle of royal 
graves. 

To it multitudes made pilgrimage in the olden time, and once 
every year a httle band of devoted Roman Cathohcs still gather 
about it in veneration of virtues that would have adorned a mon- 
astery, but had not breadth and vigor to fill a throne. 

With Edward, save for the short interlude of Harold, the last 
of the Saxon kings and the ''ablest man of an unprogressive 
race," the period closes. 

1 Minster : a name given originally to a monastery ; next, to a church connected 
with a monastery ; but now applied to several large English cathedrals. 




X 







WHITE HORSE HILL, BERKSHIRE 



io66] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 45 

111. Harold becomes King ( 1 066) . — On his death-bed, Edward, 
who had no children, recommended Harold, Earl of Wessex, as 
his successor. But, according to the Normans, he had promised 
that their Duke William, who was his second cousin (§ 108), 
should reign after him. The Witan,^ or National Council ( § § 116- 
118), chose Harold, who was soon afterward crowned (Jan. 16, 
1066). 

112. What the Saxon Conquest did for Britain. — Jutes, Saxons, 
and Angles (§§ 69-73) invaded Britain at a critical period. Its 
original inhabitants had become cowed and enervated by the 
despotism and the worn-out civilization forced on them by the 
Romans (§§59—62). 

The new-comers brought that healthy spirit of barbarism, that 
irrepressible love of personal liberty, which the country stood most 
in need of. The conquerors were rough, ignorant, cruel ; but 
they were fearless and determined. 

These qualities were worth a thousand times more to Britain 
than the gilded corruption of Rome. In time the EngUsh them- 
selves had lost spirit. Their besetting sin was a stoHdity which 
degenerated into animalism and sluggish content. 

113. Elements contributed by the Danes, or Northmen. — Then 
came the Danes (§§ 91-106). They brought with them that new 
spirit of still more savage independence which so well expressed 
itself in their song, " I trust my sword, I trust my steed, but most 
I trust myself at need." 

They conquered the land, and in conquering regenerated it. 
So strong was their love of independence, that even the peasants 
were quite generally free. 

More small independent landholders were found among the 
Danish population than anywhere else ; and it is said that the 
number now existing in the region they settled is still much larger 
than in the south. Finally the Danes and English, both of whom 
sprang from the same parent stock, mingled and became in all 
respects one people. 

1 Witan : literally the " Wise-men," the chief men of the realm ; see, too, Constitu- 
tional Summary in Appendix, page ii, § 3. 



46 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066 

114. Summary: What the Anglo-Saxons accomplished. — 

Thus Jutes, Saxons, Angles, and Danes, whom together we may 
call the Anglo-Saxons,^ laid the corner-stone of the English nation. 
However much it has changed since, it remains, nevertheless, in 
its solid and fundamental qualities, what these peoples made it. 

They gave first the language, simple, strong, direct, and plain, 
— the familiar, every-day speech of the fireside and the street, 
the well-known words of both the newspaper and the Bible. 

Next they established the government in its main outlines as 
it still exists ; that is, a king, a legislative body representing the 
people, and the germ, at least, of a judicial system embodying 
trial by jury (§125). 

Last, and best, they furnished conservative patience, calm, 
steady, persistent effort, indomitable tenacity of purpose, and 
cool, determined courage. These qualities have won glorious 
battle-fields on both sides the Atlantic, both in peace and war, 
and who can doubt that they are destined to win still greater 
victories in the future ? 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE SAXON, OR EARLY ENGLISH, PERIOD 

(449-1066) 2 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — 
IV. LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUS- 
TRY AND COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND 
CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT j 

115. Beginning of the English Monarchy. — During the greater^ 
part of the first four centuries after the Saxon conquest Britain was 
divided into a number of tribal settlements, or petty kingdoms, held 

1 Anglo-Saxons : some authorities insist that this phrase means the Saxons of 
England in distinction from those of the continent. It is used here, however, in the 
sense given by Mr. Freeman as a term describing the people formed in England by 
the union of all the Germanic tribes. 

2 This section contains a summary of much of the preceding period, with consid- 
erable additional matter. It is believed that it will be found useful both for review 
and for reference. When a continuous narrative history is desired, this, and similar 
sections following, may be omitted. 



449-1066] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 4/ 

by Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, constantly at war with each other. 
In the ninth century, the West Saxons, or inhabitants of Wessex, 
succeeded, under the leadership of Egbert, in practically conquering 
and uniting the country. Egbert now assumed the title of " King of 
the English," and Britain came to be known, from the name of its 
largest division, as Angle-Land, or England. Later the Danes ob- 
tained possession of a large part of the country, but eventually united 
with the English and became one people. 

ii6. The King and the Witan. — The government of England 
was vested in an elective sovereign, assisted by the council of the 
Witan, or Wise Men. It is an open question whether every free- 
man had the right to attend this national council,^ but, in practice, 
the right became confined to a small number of the nobles and 
clergy. ._ 

117. What the Witan could do. — i. The Witan elected the King 
(its choice being confined, as a rule, to the royal family). 2. In case 
of misgovernment, it deposed him. 3. It made or confirmed grants 
of public lands. 4. It acted as a supreme court of justice both in 
civil and criminal cases. (See Constitutional Summary in Appendix, 
page ii, § 3.) 

118. What the King and Witan could do. — i. They enacted 
the laws, both civil and ecclesiastical. (In most cases this meant 
nothing more than stating what the custom, was, the common law 
being merely the common custom.) 2. They levied taxes. 3. They 
declared war and made peace. 4. They appointed the chief officers 
and bishops of the realm. 

119. Land Tenure before the Conquest. — Before they invaded 
Britain the Saxons and kindred tribes appear to have held their 
estates in common. Each had a permanent homestead, but that was 
all.2 " No one," says Caesar, " has a fixed quantity of land or bound- 
aries to his property. The magistrates and chiefs assign every year 
to the families and communities who live together, as much land and 
in such spots as they think suitable. The following year they require 
them to take up another allotment. 

" The chief glory of the tribes is to have their territory surrounded 
with as wide a belt as possible of waste land. They deem it not only 

1 Stubbs and Freeman take opposite views on this point. 

2 Tacitus {Germania) says that each house " was surrounded by a space of 
its own." 



48 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [449-1066 

a special mark of valor that every neighboring tribe should be driven 
to a distance, and that no stranger should dare to reside in their 
vicinity, but at the same time they regard it as a precautionary 
measure against sudden attacks." ^ 

120. Folkland. — Each tribe, in forming its settlement, seized 
more land than it actually needed. This excess was known as Folk- 
land (the People's land),^ and might be used by all alike for pastur- 
ing cattle or cutting wood. With the consent of the Witan, the King 
might grant portions of this Folkland as a reward for services done 
to himself or to the community. Such grants were usually condi- 
tional and could only be made for a time. Eventually they returned 
to the community. 

Other grants, however, might be made in the same way, which 
conferred full ownership. Such grants were called Bocland (Book 
land), because conveyed by writing, or registered in a charter or 
book. In time the King obtained the power of making these grants 
without having to consult the Witan, and at last the whole of the 
Folkland came to be regarded as the absolute property of the Crown. 

121. Duties of Freemen. — Every freeman was obliged to do 
three things: i. He must assist in the maintenance of roads and 
bridges. 2. He must aid in the repair of forts. 3. He must serve 
in case of war. Whoever neglected or refused to perform this last 
and most important of all duties was declared to be a Nithing^ or 
infamous coward.^ 

122. The Feudal System (see, too, Constitutional Summary in 
Appendix, page iii, §5). — In addition to the Eorls (earls)* or 
nobles by birth, there gradually grew up a class known as Thanes 
(companions or servants of the King), who in time outranked the 

1 Czesar, Gallic War, Book VI. 

2 But some recent authorities regard it as family land. 

3 Also written Niding. The English, as a rule, were more afraid of this name 
than of death itself. 

4 The Saxons, or Early English, were divided into three classes: Eorls (they 
must not be confounded with the Danish Jar Is or earls), who were noble by birth ; 
Ceorls (churls), or simple freemen, and slaves. The slaves were either the absolute 
property of the master, or were bound to the soil and sold with it. This latter class, 
under the Norman name of villeins, became numerous after the Norman Conquest 
in the eleventh century. The chieftains of the first Saxon settlers were called either 
Ealdormen (aldermen) or Heretogas, the first being civil or magisterial, the latter 
military officers. The Thanes were a later class, who, from serving the King or some 
powerful leader, became noble by military service. 



449-1066] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 49 

hereditary nobility. To both these classes the King would have 
occasion to give rewards for faithful service and for deeds of valor. 
As his chief wealth consisted in land, he would naturally give that. 
To this gift, however, a condition was attached. On making such 
a grant the King required the receiver to agree to furnish a certain 
number of fully equipped soldiers to fight for him. These grants 
were originally made for life only, and on the death of the recipient 
they returned to the Crown. 

The nobles and other great landholders, following the example of 
the King, granted portions of their estates to tenants on similar con- 
ditions, and these again might grant portions to those below them in 
return for satisfactory military or other service. 

In time it came to be an established principle, that every freeman 
below the_rank of a noble must be attached to some superior whom 
he was bound to serve, and who, on the other hand, was his legal 
protector and responsible for his good behavior. The lordless man 
was, in fact, a kind of outlaw, and might be seized hke a robber. In 
that respect, therefore, he would be worse off than the slave, who had a 
master to whom he was accountable and who was accountable for him. 

Eventually it became common for the small landholders, espe- 
cially during the Danish invasions, to seek the protection of some 
neighboring lord who had a large band of followers at his command. 
In such cases the freeman gave up his land and received it again 
on certain conditions. The usual form was for him to kneel and, 
placing his hands within those of the lord, to swear an oath of 
homage, saying, " I become your man for the lands which I hold of 
you, and I will be faithful to you against all men, saving only the 
service which I owe to my lord the King." On his side the lord 
solemnly promised to defend his tenant or vassal in the possession of 
his property, for which he was to perform some service to the lord. 

In these two ways, first, by grant of lands from the King or a 
superior, and, secondly, by the act of homage (known as commenda- 
tio7i), the feudal system (a name derived ixovcs. feodum^ meaning land 
or property) grew up in England. Its growth, however, was irregu- 
lar and incomplete ; and it should be distinctly understood that it 
was not until after the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century 
that it became fully established. 

123. Advantages of Feudalism. — This system had at that time 
many advantages, i. The old method of holding land in common 



50 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [449-1066 

was a wasteful one, since the way in which the possessor of a field 
might cultivate it would perhaps spoil it for the one who received it 
at the next allotment. 2. In an age of constant warfare, feudalism 
protected all classes better than if they had stood apart, and it 
enabled the King to raise a powerful and well-armed force in the 
easiest and quickest manner. 3. It cultivated two important virtues, 
— fidelity on the part of the vassal, protection on that of the lord. 
Its corner-stone was the faithfulness of man to man. Society has 
outgrown feudalism, which like every system had its dark side, but 
it can never outgrow the feudal principle. 

124. Political Divisions ; the Sheriff. — Politically the kingdom 
was divided into townships, hundreds (districts furnishing a hun- 
dred warriors, or supporting a hundred families), and shires or 
counties, the shire having been originally, in some cases, the section 
settled by an independent tribe, as Sussex, Essex, etc. 

In each shire the King had an officer, called a shire-reeve or 
sheriff,! who represented him, collected the taxes due the Crown, 
and saw to the execution of the laws. In like manner, the town and 
the hundred had a head-man of its own choosing to see to matters 
of general interest. 

125. The Courts. — As the nation had its assembly of wise men 
acting as a high court, so each shire, hundred, and town had its court, 
which all freemen might attend. There, without any special judge, 
jury, or lawyers, cases of all kinds were tried and settled by the voice 
of the entire body, 'who were both judge and jury in themselves. 

126. Methods of Procedure; Compurgation. — In these courts 
there were two methods of procedure : first, the accused might 
clear himself of the charge brought against him by compurgation ^ ; 
that is, by swearing that he was not guilty and getting a number of 
reputable neighbors to swear that they believed his oath. 

If their oaths were not satisfactory, witnesses might be brought to 
swear to some particular fact. In every case the value of the oath 
was graduated according to the rank of the person, that of a man of 
high rank being worth as much as that of twelve common men. 

127. The Ordeal. — If the accused could not clear himself in this 
way, he was obliged to submit to the ordeal.^ This usually consisted 

1 Reeve : a man in authority, or having charge of something. 

2 Compurgation : the act of wholly purifying or clearing a person from guilt. 

3 Ordeal : judgment. 



449-1066] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 5 1 

in carrying a piece of hot iron a certain distance, or in plunging the 
arm up to the elbow in boiling water. 

The person who underwent the ordeal appealed to God to prove 
his innocence by protecting him from harm. Rude as both these 
methods were, they were better than the old tribal method, which 
permitted every man or every man's family to be the avenger of his 
wrongs. 

128. The Common Law. — The laws by which these cases were 
tried were almost always ancient customs, few of which had been 
reduced to writing. They formed that body of common law ^ which 
is the foundation of the modern system of justice both in England 
and America. 

129. Penalties. — The penalties inflicted by these courts consisted 
chiefly of fines. Each man's life had a certain pecuniary value. 
The punishment for the murder of a man of very high rank was 2400 
shillings ; that of a simple freeman was only one-twelfth as much. 

A slave could neither testify in court nor be punished by the court ; 
for the man in that day who held no land had no rights. If a slave 
was convicted of crime, his master paid the fine and then took what 
he considered an equivalent with the lash. Treason was punished 
with death, and common scolds were ducked in a pond until they 
were glad to hold their tongues. 

RELIGION 

130. The Ancient Saxon Faith. — Before their conversion to 
Christianity, the Saxons worshipped Woden and Thor, names pre- 
served in Wednesday (Woden's day) and Thursday (Thor's day). 
The first appears to have been considered the creator and ruler of 
heaven and earth ; the second was his son, the god of thunder, slayer 
of evil spirits, and friend of man. 

The essential element of their religion was the deification of 
strength, courage, and fortitude. It was a faith well suited to a war- 
like people. It taught that there was a heaven for the brave and a 
hell for cowards. 

131. What Christianity did. — Christianity, on the contrary, laid 
emphasis on the virtues of self-sacrifice and sympathy. It took the 
side of the weak and the helpless. The church itself held slaves, yet 

1 So called, in distinction from the later statute laws made by Parliament and 
other legislative bodies. 



52 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [449-1066 

it labored for emancipation. It built monasteries and encouraged 
industry and education. The church edifice was a kind of open Bible. 

Very few who entered it could spell out a single word of either 
Old or New Testament, but all, from the poorest peasant or meanest 
slave up to the greatest noble, could read the meaning of the Scripture 
histories painted on wall and window. 

The church, furthermore, was a peculiarly sacred place. It was 
powerful to shield those who were in danger. If a criminal, or a 
person fleeing from vengeance, took refuge in it, he could not be 
seized until forty days had expired, during which time he had the 
privilege of leaving the kingdom and going into exile. 

This " right of sanctuary " was often a needful protection in an 
age of violence. It became, however, in time, an intolerable nui- 
sance, since it enabled robbers and desperadoes of all kinds to defy 
the law. The right was modified at different times, but was not 
wholly abolished until 1624, in the reign of James I. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS 

132. The Army. — The army consisted of a national and a feudal 
militia. From the earliest times all freemen were obliged to fight in 
the defence of the country. Under the feudal system, every large 
landholder had to furnish the King a stipulated number of men, fully 
equipped with armor and weapons. As this method was found more 
effective than the first, it gradually superseded it. 

The Saxons always fought on foot. They wore helmets and rude, 
flexible armor, formed of iron rings, or of stout leather covered with 
small plates of iron and other substances. They carried oval-shaped 
shields. Their chief weapons were the spear, javelin, battle-axe, and 
sword. The wars of this period were those of the different tribes 
seeking supremacy, or of the English with the Danes. 

133. The Navy. — Until Alfred's reign the English had no navy. 
From that period they maintained a fleet of small war-ships to pro- 
tect the coast from invasion. Most of these vessels appear to have 
been furnished by certain ports on the south coast. 

LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART 

134. Runes. — The language of the Saxons was of Low-German 
origin. Many of the words resemble the German of the present day. 
When written, the characters were called rujies, mysteries or secrets. 



449-I066] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 53 

The chief use of these runes was to mark a sword-hilt, or some article 
of value, or to form a charm against evil and witchcraft. 

It is supposed that one of the earliest runic inscriptions is the 
following, which dates from about 400 a.d. It is cut on a drinking- 
horn,i and (reproduced in English characters) stands thus : — 

EK HLEWAGASTIR . HOLTINGAR . HORNA . TAWIDO. 

/, Hlewagastir^ son of Holta^ made the horn. 

With the introduction of Christianity the Latin alphabet, from 
which our modern English alphabet is derived, took the place of the 
runic characters, which bore some resemblance to Greek, and English 
literature began with the coming of the monks. 

135. The First Books. — One of the first EngHsh books was the 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a history covering a period of about twelve 
hundred years, beginning with the Roman invasion and ending in the 
year 11 54. 

Though written in prose, it contains various fragments of poetry, 
of which the following (rendered into modern English), on the death 
of Edward the Confessor (1066), may be quoted as an example: — 

" Then suddenly came On Harold's self, 

Death the bitter A noble Earl ! 

And that dear prince seized. Who in all times 

Angels bore Faithfully hearkened 

His steadfast soul Unto his lord 

Into heaven's light. In word and deed, 

But the wise King Nor ever failed 

Bestowed his realm In aught the King 

On one grown great, Had needed of him ! " 

Other early books were Caedmon's poem of the Creation, also in 
English, and Bede's church history of Britain, written in Latin, a 
work giving a full and most interesting account of the coming of 
Augustine and his first preaching in Kent. All of these books were 
written by the monks. 

136. Art. — The English were skilful workers in metal, espe- 
cially in gold and silver, and also in the illumination of manuscripts.^ 
Alfred's Jewel, a fine specimen of the blue enamelled gold of the 

1 The golden horn of Gallehas, found on the Danish-German frontier. 

2 These illuminations get their name from the gold, silver, and bright colors 
used in the pictures, borders, and decorated letters with which the monks ornamented 
these books. For beautiful specimens of the work, see Silvestre's Paleographie. 



54 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [449-1066 

ninth century, is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It 
bears the inscription : " Alfred me heht gewurcan," Alfred caused 
me to be worked [or 7/iade']. 

The women of that period excelled in weaving fine linen and 
woollen cloth and in embroidering tapestry. 

137. Architecture. — In architecture no advance took place until 
very late. Up to the year 1000 the general belief that the world 
would end with the close of the year 999 prevented men from 
building for permanence. The small ancient church at Bradford-on- 
Avon belongs to the Saxon period. The Saxon stone work exhibited 
in a few buildings like the church-tower of Earl's Barton, Northamp- 
tonshire, is an attempt to imitate timber with stone, and has been 
called " stone carpentry." ^ Edward the Confessor's work in West- 
minster Abbey was not Saxon, but Norman, he having obtained his 
plans, and probably his builders, from Normandy. 

GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 

138. Farms ; Slave Trade. — The farming of this period, except 
on the church lands, was of the rudest description. Grain was ground 
by the women and slaves in stone hand-mills. Later, the mills were 
driven by wind or water power. The principal commerce was in 
wool, lead, tin, and slaves. A writer of that time says he used to see 
long trains of young men and women tied together, offered for sale, 
" for men were not ashamed," he adds, " to sell their nearest relatives, 
and even their own children." 

MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 

139. The Town. — The first Saxon settlements were quite gener- 
ally on the Hne of the old Roman roads. They were surrounded by a 
rampart of earth set with a thick hedge or with rows of sharp stakes. 
Outside this was a deep ditch. These places were called towns, from 
" tun," meaning a fence, hedge, or other enclosure.^ 

140. The Hall The buildings in these towns were of wood. 

Those of the lords or chief men were called "halls," from the fact 
that they consisted mainly of a hall, or large room, used as a sitting, 
eating, and often as a sleeping room, — a bundle of straw or some 

iSee Parker's Introduction to Gothic Architecture for illustrations of this work. 
2 One or more houses might constitute a town. A single farmhouse is still so 
called in Scotland. 



449-1066] THE COMING OF THE SAXONS 55 

skins thrown on the floor serving for beds. There were no chimneys, 
but a hole in the roof let out the smoke. If the owner was rich, the 
walls would be decorated with bright-colored tapestry, and with suits 
of armor and shields hanging from pegs. 

141. Life in the Hall. — Here in the evening the master supped on 
a raised platform at one end of the " hall," while his followers ate at 
a lower table. 

The Saxons were hard drinkers as well as hard fighters. After 
the meal, while horns of ale and mead were circulating, the minstrels, 
taking their harps, would sing songs of battle and ballads of wild 
adventure. 

Outside the " hall " were the " bowers," or chambers for the master 
and his family, and, perhaps, an upper chamber for a guest, called 
later by-jjtie Normans a sollar, or sunny room. 

If a stranger approached a town, he was obliged to blow a horn ; 
otherwise he might be slain as an outlaw. 

Here in the midst of rude plenty the Saxons, or Early English, lived 
a life of sturdy independence. They were rough, strong, outspoken, 
and fearless. Theirs was not the nimble brain, for that -syas to come 
with another people, though a people originally of the same race. 
Their mission was to lay the foundation ; or, in other words, to furnish 
the muscle, grit, and endurance, without which the nimble brain is of 
little permanent value. 

142. Guilds. — The inhabitants of the towns and cities had various 
associations called guilds (ixom. gild^ a payment or contribution). The 
object of these was mutual assistance. The most important were the 
Peace-guilds ^ and the Merchant-guilds. The former constituted a vol- 
untary police force to preserve order and bring thieves to punishment. 

Each member contributed a small sum to form a common fund 
which was used to make good any losses incurred by robbery or fire. 
The association held itself responsible for the good behavior of its 
members, and kept a sharp eye on strangers and stragglers, who had 
to give an account of themselves or leave the country. 

The Merchant-guilds were organized, apparently at a late period, to 
protect and extend trade. After the Norman Conquest they came to 
be very wealthy and influential. In addition to the above, there were 
social and rehgious guilds which made provision for feasts, for mainte- 
nance of religious services, and for the relief of the poor and the sick. 

1 Frithgilds. 



56 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1087 



SECTION V 

" In other countries the struggle has been to gain liberty ; in England, 
to preserve it." — Alison. 

THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 

THE KING versus THE BARONS 

Building the Norman Superstructure — The Age of 
Feudalism 

NORMAN SOVEREIGNS 

William I, 1066-1087. Henry I, 1100-1135. 

William II, 1087-1100. Stephen (House of Blois), 1135-1154. 

143. Duke William hears of Harold's Accession; Message 
to Harold. — Duke William of Normandy was in his park near 
Rouen, the capital of his dukedom, getting ready for a hunting 
expedition, when the news was brought to him of Harold's acces- 
sion ( § III). The old chronicler says the duke " stopped short 
in his preparations ; he spoke to no man, and no man dared speak 
to him." 

At length he resolved to send a message to the King of England. 
His demand is not known ; but whatever it was, Harold appears 
to have answered with a rough refusal. 

144. William prepares to invade England. — Then William 
determined to appeal to the sword. During the spring and sum- 
mer of that year, the duke was employed in fitting out a fleet for 
the invasion, and his smiths and armorers were busy making 
lances, swords, and coats of mail. The Pope favored the expedi- 
tion and presented a banner blessed by himself, to be carried in 
the attack ; " mothers, too, sent their sons for the salvation of 
their souls." 



1066-1087] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 57 

145. The Expedition sails (1066). — After many delays, at 
length all was ready, and at daybreak (Sept. 27, 1066) William 
sailed with a fleet of several hundred ships and a large number 
of transports, his own vessel leading the van, with the consecrated 
banner at the mast-head. 

His army consisted of archers and cavalry, and may have num- 
bered between fifty and sixty thousand. They were partly his 
own subjects, and partly hired soldiers, or those who joined for 
the sake of plunder. He also carried a large force of smiths and 
carpenters, with timber ready cut and fitted for a wooden castle. 

146. William lands at Pevensey. — The next day the fleet 
anchored at Pevensey,^ under the walls of that old Roman fortress 
of Anderida (§ 71), which had stood, a vacant ruin, since the 
Saxons stormed it nearly six hundred years before. Tradition says 
that as William stepped on shore he stumbled and fell. "God 
preserve us ! " cried one of his men ; " this is a bad sign." But 
the duke, grasping the pebbles of the beach with both his out- 
stretched hands, exclaimed, "Thus do I seize the land ! " 

147. Harold in the North. — There waS; in fact, no power to 
prevent him from establishing his camp, for King Harold ( § 1 1 1 ) 
was in the north quelling an invasion headed by the King of the 
Norwegians and his brother Tostig, who hoped to secure the 
throne for himself. Harold had just sat down to a victory feast, 
after the battle of Stamford Bridge,^ when news was brought to 
him of the landing of William. 

It was this fatal want of unity in England which made the 
Norman Conquest possible. Had not Harold's own brother 
Tostig turned traitorously against him, or had the north country 
stood squarely by the south, Duke William might have found his 
fall on the beach an omen indeed full of disaster. 

148. What William did after landing (1066). — As there was 
no one to oppose him, William made a fort in a corner of the old 
Roman waU of Anderida (§ 71). He then marched to Hastings, 
a few miles farther east, where he set up his wooden castle on 

1 Pevensey: see Map No. 6, facing page 42. 

2 Stamford Bridge, Northumberland (Yorkshire) . see Map No. 5, facing page 40. 



58 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1087 

that hill where the ruins of a later stone castle may still be seen. 
Having done this, he pillaged the country in every direction, until 
the 14th of October, the day of the great battle. 

149. Harold marches to meet William (1066). — Harold, hav- 
ing gathered what forces he could, marched to meet William at 
Senlac, a place midway between Pevensey and Hastings, and 
about five miles back from the coast. Here, on the evening of 
the 13 th of October, he entrenched himself on a hill, and there 
the battle was waged. 

Harold had the advantage of the stockaded fort he had built ; 
William, that of a body of cavalry and archers, for the EngUsh 
fought on foot with javelins and battle-axes mainly. The Saxons 
spent the night in feasting and song ; the Normans, in prayer and 
confession. 

150. The Battle, 1066. — On the morning of the 14th of 
October the fight began. It lasted until dark, with heavy loss 
on both sides. At length William's strategy carried the day, and 
Harold and his brave followers found to their cost that then, as 
now, it is " the thinking bayonet " which conquers. The EngHsh 
King was slain and every man of his chosen troops with him. 

A monkish chronicler, in speaking of the Conquest, says that 
" the vices of the Saxons had made them effeminate and woman- 
ish, wherefore it came to pass that, running against Duke William, 
they lost themselves and their country with one, and that an easy 
and light battle." ^ 

Doubtless the English had fallen off in many ways from their 
first estate; but the record at Senlac (or Hastings) shows that 
they had lost neither strength, courage, nor endurance, and a 
harder battle or a longer was never fought on British soil. 

151. The Abbey of Battle; Harold's Grave. — A few years 
later the Norman conqueror built the Abbey of Battle on the 
spot to commemorate the victory by which he gained his crown. 
He ordered that the monks should chant perpetual prayers over 
the Norman soldiers who had fallen there. 

Here, also, tradition represents him as having buried Harold's 
1 William of Malmesbury's Chronicle. 



1066-1087] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 59 

body, just after the fight, under a heap of stones by the seashore. 
Some months later it is said that the friends of the English King 
removed the remains to Waltham, near London, and buried them 
in the church which he had built and endowed there. -^ 

Be that as it may, his grave, wherever it is, is the grave of the 
old England, for henceforth a new people (though not a new race) 
and a somewhat modified form of government appear in the 
history of the island. 

152. The Bayeux^ Tapestry. — Several contemporary accounts 
of the battle exist by both French and English writers. But the 
best history is one wrought in colors by a woman's hand. It 
represents the scenes of the famous contest on a strip of canvas 
known, from the French cathedral, where it is still preserved, as 
the Bayeux Tapestry (§ 205). 

153- William marches on London (1066). — Soon after the 
battle, William advanced on London and set fire to the South- 
wark suburbs.^ The Londoners, terrified by the flames, and later 
cut off from help from the north by the Conqueror's besieging 
army, opened their gates and surrendered without striking a blow. 

154. "William grants a Charter to London {1066). — In return, 
William granted the city a charter, or formal and solemn written 
pledge, by which he guaranteed the inhabitants the liberties which 
they had enjoyed under Edward the Confessor (§ 109). 

That document may still be seen among the records in Guild- 
hall,* in London. It is a bit of parchment, hardly bigger than a 
man's hand, containing a few lines in English, and is signed with 
William's mark ; for he who wielded the sword so effectually either 
could not or would not handle the pen. By that mark all the 
past privileges and immunities of the city were confirmed and 
protected. 

155. The Coronation; William returns to Normandy. — On 
the following Christmas Day (1066) William was appointed and 

I 1 This church became afterward Waltham Abbey. 2 Bayeux (Bay'yuh'). 

I 3 Southwark : on the right bank of tlie Thames. It is now connected with London 

proper by London Bridge. 

4 Guildhall : the City Hall, the place where the guilds, or different corporations of 

the city proper, meet to transact business. 



6o LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1087 

crowned in Westminster Abbey. In the spring (1067) he sailed 
for Normandy, where he had left his Queen, Matilda, to govern 
in his absence. 

While on the continent he entrusted England to the hands of 
two regents, one his half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the 
other his friend, William Fitz-Osbern ; the former he had made 
'j^arl of Kent, the latter Earl of Hereford. 

During the next three years there were outbreaks and uprisings 
in the lowlands of Cambridgeshire and the moors of Yorkshire, 
besides incursions of both Danes and Scots. 

156. William quells Rebellion in the North (1068).— The 
oppressive rule of the regents (§ 155) soon caused a rebellion; 
and in December William found it expedient to return to England. 
In order to gain time, the King bought off the Danes. Little by 
little, however, the land was brought to obedience. By forced 
marches in midwinter, by roads cast up through bogs, and by 
sudden night attacks, William accompHshed the end he sought. 

But (1068) news came of a fresh revolt in the north, accom- 
panied by another invasion of foreign barbarians. Then William, 
roused to terrible anger, swore by the " splendor of God " that he 
would lay waste the land. 

He made good his oath. For a hundred miles beyond the 
river Humber he ravaged the country, firing villages, destroying, 
houses, crops, and cattle, and reducing the wretched people to 
such destitution that many sold themselves for slaves to escape 
starvation. Having finished his work in the north, he turned 
toward Chester, in the west, and captured that city. 

157. Hereward (1091). — Every part of the land was now in 
William's power except an island in the swamps of Ely,^ in the 
east, where the Englishman Hereward, with his resolute little 
band of fellow-countrymen, continued to defy the power of the 
Conqueror. "Had there been three more men like him in the 
island," said one of William's own men, " the Normans would 
never have entered it." But as there were not three more such, 
the conquest was at length completed. 

1 Ely : in the east of England. See Map No. 5, facing page 40. 



1066-1087] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 6 1 

158. Necessity of William's Severity. — The work of death 
had been fearful. But even these pitiless measures were better 
than that England should sink into anarchy, or into subjection to 
hordes of Northmen (§91), who destroyed purely out of love of 
destruction and hatred of civiHzation and its works. 

For whatever William's faults or crimes, his great object was 
the upbuilding of a government better than any England had yet 
seen. Hence his severity, hence his elaborate safeguards, by 
which he made sure of retaining his hold upon whatever he 
had gained. 

159. He builds the Tower of London. — We have seen that 
he gave London a charter (§ 154); but overlooking the place 
in which that charter was kept, he built the Tower of London to 
hold the turbulent city in wholesome restraint. That Tower, as 
fortress, palace, and prison, stands as the dark background of most 
of the great events in EngHsh history. 

It was the forerunner, so to speak, of a multitude of castles. 
They soon after rose on the banks of every river, and on the sum- 
mit of every rocky height, from the west hill of Hastings to the 
peak of Derbyshire, and from the banks of the Thames to those 
of the Tweed. Side by side with these strongholds there also rose 
an almost equal number of monasteries, churches, and cathedrals. 

160. William confiscates the Land ; Classes of Society. — 
Hand in hand with the progress of conquest, the confiscation of 
land went on. William had seized the estates of Harold (§ 151) 
and of all the chief men associated with him, to grant them to 
his followers. In this way he gave to Bishop Odo, Fitz-Osbern, 
and Roger of Montgomery immense estates in various parts of 
England. 

Other grants were made by him, until by the close of his reign 
no great landholder was left among the English, with the ex- 
ception of a very few who were thoroughly Norman in their 
sympathies and in their allegiance. 

Two great classes of society now existed in England. First, the 

Norman conquerors, who as chief tenants or landholders under the 

' King were called barons. Secondly, the English who had been 



62 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1087 

reduced to a subordinate condition. Most of these now held 
their land under the barons, and a majority of them were no 
longer free. 

This latter class were called villeins.^ They were bound to the 
soil (§ 200), and could be sold with it, but not, like slaves, sepa- 
rately from it. They could be compelled to perform any menial 
service, but usually held their plots of land and humble cottages 
on condition of ploughing a certain number of acres or doing a 
certain number of days' work in each year for their lord. 

In time they often obtained the privilege of paying a fixed 
money rent in place of labor, and then their condition gradually 
though very slowly improved. 

161. How he granted Estates. — Yet it is noticeable that in 
these grants William was careful not to give large possessions to 
any one person in any one shire. His experience in Normandy 
had taught him that it was better to divide than to concentrate 
the power of the great nobles, who were only too ready to plot 
to get the crown for themselves. 

Thus William developed and extended the feudal system of 
land tenure,^ already in existence in outline among the Saxons 
(§§ 122, 200), until it covered every part of the realm. He, how- 
ever, kept it strictly subordinate to himself, and before the close 
of his reign made it absolutely so. 

162. The Three Counties Palatine. — The only exceptions to 
these grants were the three Counties Palatine,^ which defended 
the border country in the north and west, and the coast on the 
south. To the earls of these counties, Chester, Durham, and 
Kent, William gave almost royal power, which descended in their 
families, thus making the title hereditary. 

1 Villein : a name derived from the Latin villa^ a country-house, or farm, because 
originally the villein was a laborer who had a share in the common land. Our 
modern word " villain " comes from the same source, though time has given it a 
totally different meaning. See, too. Constitutional Summary in Appendix, page 

iii, § 5- 

2 See, too, Constitutional Summary in Appendix, page v, § 6. 

3 Palatine (from ^alatium, palace) : having rights equal with the King in his 
palace. Shropshire was practically a fourth County Palatine until Henry I. Later, 
Lancaster was added to the list. 



1066-1087] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 63 

163. How Wih^m stopped Assassination. — The hard rule of 
the Norman nobles caused many secret assassinations. To put a 
stop to these crimes, WilHam enacted the Law of EngHshry. It 
compelled the people of the district where a murder was per- 
petrated to pay a heavy fine for every Norman so slain ; for it 
was assumed that unless they could prove to the contrary, every 
man found murdered was a Norman. 

1.64. Pope Gregory VII. — While these events were taking 
place in England, Hildebrand, the archdeacon who had urged 
Pope Alexander to favor William's expedition, had ascended the 
papal throne, under the title of Gregory VII. He was the ablest, 
the most ambitious, and, in some respects, the most far-sighted 
man who_had made himself the supreme head of the Church. 

165. ^tate of Europe ; Gregory's Scheme of Reform. — Europe 
was at that time in a condition little better than anarchy. A per- 
petual quarrel was going on between the barons. The Church, 
too, as we have seen (§§ 92, loi), had lost much of its power for 
good in England, and was rapidly falhng into obscurity and con- 
tempt. Pope Gregory conceived a scheme of reform which should 
be both Avide and deep. 

Like Dunstan (§ 100), he determined to correct the abuses 
which had crept into the monasteries. He would have an unmar- 
ried priesthood, who should devote themselves body and soul to 
the interests of the Church. He would bring all society into 
submission to that priesthood, and finally he would make the 
priesthood itself acknowledge him as its sole master. His purpose 
in this gigantic scheme was a noble one ; it was to establish the 
unity and peace of Europe. 

166. The Pope and the Conqueror. — Gregory looked to Wil- 
Ham for help in this matter. The Conqueror was ready to give it, 
but with hmitations. He pledged himself to aid in reform^ing the 
Enghsh Church. He undertook to remove inefficient men from its 
high places, and to establish spedal ecclesiastical courts (§ 201), 
for the trial of church cases. Finally he agreed to pay a yearly 
tax to Rome. But he refused to take any step which should make 
England pohtically subservient to the Pope. On the contrary, he 



64 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1087 

emphatically declared that he was and wou- .• remain an inde- 
pendent sovereign, and that the EngHsh Church must obey him 
in preference to any other power. 

He furthermore laid down these three rules : i. That neither 
the Pope, the Pope's representative, nor letters from the Pope 
should be received in England without his leave. 2. That no 
meeting of church authorities should be called or should take 
any action without his leave. 3. That no baron or servant of 
his should be expelled from the Church without his leave. 

Thus William alone of all the sovereigns of Europe successfully 
withstood the power of Rome. Henry IV of Germany had 
attempted the same thing. But so completely was he defeated 
and humbled that he had been compelled to stand barefooted in 
the snow before the Pope's palace waiting three days fo« permis- 
sion to enter and beg forgiveness. • But William knew the inde- 
pendent temper of England, and that he could depend on it 
for support. 

167. William a Stern but Just Ruler; New Forest. — Con- 
sidering his love of power and strength of will, the reign of Wil- 
liam was conspicuous for its justice. He was harsh but generally 
fair. His most despotic act was the seizure and devastation of a 
tract of over sixty thousand acres in Hampshire for a hunting- 
ground, which received the name of the New Forest.^ It has 
been said that William destroyed many churches and estates in 
order to form this forest, but these accounts appear to have been 
greatly exaggerated. 

The real grievance was not so much the appropriation of the 
land, which was sterile and of Httle value, but it was the enact- 
ment of the savage Forest Laws. These made the life of 
a stag of more value than that of a man, and decreed that 
any one found hunting the royal deer should have both eyes 
torn out. 

1 Forest : as here used, this does not mean a region covered with woods, but 
simply a section of country, partially wooded and suitable for game, set apart as a 
royal park or hunting-ground. As William made his residence at Winchester, in 
Hampshire, in the south of England (see Map No. 22, facing page 416), he naturally 
took land in that vicinity for the chase. 



1066-1087] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 65 

168. The Great Survey (1085). — Not quite twenty years 
after his coronation William ordered a survey and valuation 
to be made of the whole realm outside of London, with the 
exception of certain border counties on the north. 

These appear to have been omitted, either because they 
were sparsely populated by a mixed race, or for the reason 
that since his campaign in the north (§ 156) httle was left 
to record there but heaps of ruins and ridges of grass-grown 
graves. 

169. The Domesday Book (1086). — The returns of that sur- 
vey (1086) are known as Domesday or Doomsday Book, a name 
given, it is said, by the EngHsh, because, like the Day of Doom, 
it spared' no one. 

It recorded every piece of property and every particular con- 
cerning it. As the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (§ 205) indignantly 
said, not a rood of land, not a peasant's hiut, not an ox, cow, 
pig, or even a hive of bees, escaped. 

While the report showed the wealth of the country, it also 
showed the suffering it had passed through in the revolts against 
William. Many towns had fallen into decay. Some were nearly 
depopulated. In Edward the Confessor's reign (§ 109) York had 
1607 houses; at the date of the survey it had but 967, while 
Oxford, which had had 721 houses, had then only 243. 

This census and assessment proved of the highest importance 
to William and his successors. The people, indeed, said bitterly 
that the King kept the book constantly by him, in order " that 
he might be able to see at any time of how much more wool th-e 
English flock would bear fleecing." 

The object of the work, however, was not extortion, but to 
present a full and exact account of the financial and military 
condition of the kingdom which might be directly available for 
revenue and defence. 

170. The Great Meeting (1086). — In the midsummer fol- 
lowing the completion of Domesday Book, William summoned 
all the nobles and chief landholders of the realm, with 
their vassals or tenants, to meet him on Salisbury Plain, 



66 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1087 

Wiltshire.^ The entire assemblage numbered about sixty thousand. 
There was a logical connection between that summons and the 
great survey (§ 168). Each man's possessions and each man's 
responsibility were now known. Thus Domesday Book prepared 
the way for the assembly and for the action that was to be taken 
there. 

The place chosen was historic ground. On that field William 
had once reviewed his victorious troops, and in front of the 
encampment rose the hill of Old Sarum, scarred with the remains 
of Roman entrenchments. 

Stonehenge was near (§23). It was within sight of it and of 
the burial mounds (§ 16) of those primeval races which had made 
their home there during the childhood of the world, that the 
Norman sovereign finished his work. 

171. The Oath of Allegiance. — There William demanded and 
received the sworn allegiance not only of every lord, but of every 
lord's free vassal or tenant, from Cornwall to the Scottish borders. 
By that act England was made one. By it, it was settled that 
every man in the realm, of whatever condition, was bound first of 
all to fight for the King, even if in doing so he had to fight against 
his own lord.^ 

172. What William had done. — A score of years before, Wil- 
Ham had landed, seeking a throne to which no human law had 
given him any just claim. But Nature had elected him to it 
when she endowed him with power to take, power to use, and 
power to hold. 

It was fortunate for England that he came ; for out of chaos, 
or affairs fast drifting to chaos, his strong hand, clear brain, and 
resolute purpose brought order, beauty, safety, and stability. We 

1 See Map of England, page 416. Wiltshire is in the south of England. The 
Saxon seat of government had been at Winchester (Hampshire) ; under Edward the 
Confessor and Harold, it was transferred to Westminster (London) ; but the honor 
was again restored to Winchester by William, who made it his principal residence. 
This was perhaps the reason why he chose Salisbury Plain (the nearest open region) 
for the meeting. It was held where the modern city of Sahsbury stands. 

2 See §§ 200, 202 ; and see also Constitutional Summary in Appendix, page 
v,§6. 



1066-1087] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 6/ 

may say with Guizot, that " England owes her liberties to her 
having been conquered by the Normans." 

173. William's Death (1087). — In less than a year from that 
time, William went to Normandy to quell an invasion led by his 
eldest son, Robert. As he rode down a steep street in Mantes, 
his horse stumbled and he received a fatal injury. He was 
carried to the priory of St. Gervase, just outside the city of Rouen. ^ 

Early in the morning he was awakened by the great cathedral 
bell. "It is the hour of praise," his attendant said to him, 
"when the priests give thanks for the new day." William lifted 
up his hands in prayer and expired. 

174. His Burial (1087). — His remains were taken for interment 
to St. Stephen's Church,^ which he had built. As they were pre- 
paring to let down the body into the grave, a man suddenly 
stepped forward and forbade the burial. 

William, he said, had taken the land, on which the church 
stood, from his father by violence. He demanded payment. 
The corpse was left on the bier, and inquiry instituted, and not 
until the debt was discharged was the body lowered to . its last 
resting-place. 

"Thus," says the old chronicle, "he who had been a powerful 
king, and the lord of so many territories, possessed not then of 
all his lands more than seven feet of earth," and not even that 
until the cash was paid for it ! But William's bones were not to 
rest when finally laid in the grave, for less than five centuries later 
(1532) the French Protestants dug them up and scattered them. 

175. Summary (1066-1087). — The results of the Conquest 
may be thus summed up.: i. It was not the subjugation of the 
English by a different race, but rather a victory won for their 
advantage by a branch of their own race.^ It brought England 
into closer contact with the higher civilization of the continent, 
introduced fresh intellectual stimulus, and gave to the Anglo- 
Saxon a more progressive spirit. 

1 Rouen (Rue' an'). 2 Jn Caen, Normandy. 

3 It has already been shown that Norman, Saxon, and Dane were originally 
branches of the Teutonic or German race. See §§ 105, 114. 



6S LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1087 

2. It modified the English language by the influence of the 
Norman-French element, thus giving it greater flexibility, refine- 
ment, and elegance of expression. 

3. It substituted, for the fragile and decaying structures of 
wood built by the Saxons, noble edifices in stone, the cathedral 
and the castle, both being essentially Norman. 

4. It hastened consolidating influences already at work, devel- 
oped and completed the feudal form of land tenure free from the 
evils of continental feudahsm (§ 200), reorganized the Church, 
and defined the relation of the State to the papal power (§ 107). 

5. It abolished the four great earldoms (§ 107), which had 
been a constant source of weakness, danger, and division ; it put 
an end to the Danish invasions, and it established a strong 
monarchical government, to which the nobles and their vassals 
or tenants were compelled to swear allegiance. 

6. It made no radical changes in the English laws, but enforced 
impartial obedience to them among all classes. 

WILLIAM RUFUSi — 1087-1100 

176. William the Conqueror's Bequest (1087). — William the 
Conqueror left three sons, — Robert, William Rufus, and Henry. 
He also left a daughter, Adela, who married a powerful French 
nobleman, Stephen, Count of Blois. On his death-bed William 
bequeathed Normandy to Robert. 

He expressed a wish that William Rufus should become ruler 
over England, while to Henry he left five thousand pounds of 
silver, with the prediction that he would ultimately be the greatest 
of them all., 

Before his eyes were closed, the sons hurried away, — William 
Rufus to seize the realm of England, Henry to get possession 
of his treasure. Robert was not present. His recent rebellion 
would alone have been sufficient reason for allotting to him the 
lesser portion ; but even had he deserved the sceptre, William 
knew that it required a firmer hand than his to hold it. 

1 William Rufus, William the Red : a nickname, probably derived from his red face. 



1087-1100] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 69 

177. Precarious State of England. — France was simply an 
aggregation of independent and mutually hostile dukedoms. The 
reckless ambition of the Norman leaders threatened to bring 
England into the same condition (§ 200). 

During the twenty-one years of William's reign, the Norman 
barons tried constantly to break loose from his restraining power. 
It was certain, then, that the news of his death would be the signal 
for still more desperate attempts. 

178. Character of William Rufus. — Rufus had his father's 
ability and resolution, but none of his father's conscience. As 
the historian of that time declared, "He feared God but little, 
man not at all." He had Caesar's faith in destiny, and said to a 
boatman who hesitated to set off with him in a storm at his 
command, " Did you ever hear of a king's being drowned? " 

179. His Struggle with the Barons. — During the greater part 
of the thirteen years of his reign he was at war with his barons 
(§ 200). It was a battle of centralization against disintegration. 
"Let every man," said the King, "who would not be branded 
infamous and a coward, whether he live in- town or country, leave 
everything and come to me " (§ 121). 

In answer to that appeal, the EngHsh rallied around their Nor- 
man sovereign, and gained the day for him under the walls of 
Rochester Castle, Kent. Of the two evils, the tyranny of one 
or the tyranny of many, the first seemed to them preferable. 

180. William's Method of raising Money ; he defrauds the 
Church. — If in some respects William the Conqueror had been 
a harsh ruler, his son was worse. His brother Robert had 
mortgaged Normandy to him in order to get money to join the 
first crusade.^ The King raised it by the most oppressive and 
unscrupulous means. 

William's most trusted counsellor was Ranulf Flambard.^ Flam- 

1 Crusade (Latin crux, the cross) : the crusades were a series of eight military- 
expeditions undertaken by the Christian powers of Europe to recover Jerusalem and 
the Holy Land from the hands of the Mohammedans. They received their name 
from the badge of the cross worn by the soldiers. The first crusade was undertaken 
in 1095, ^^^ the last in 1270. Their effects will be fully considered under Richard I, 
who took part in them. 2 Flambard : a nickname ; the torch, or firebrand. 



70 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1087-1100 

bard had brains without principle. He devised a system of plun- 
dering both Church and people in the King's interest. Lanfranc, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, died three years after William's acces- 
sion. Through Flambard's advice, the King left the archbishopric 
vacant and appropriated its revenues to himself. He practised 
the same course with respect to every office of the Church. 

181. The King makes Anselm Archbishop (1093). — While 
this process of systematized robbery was going on, the King sud- 
denly fell ill. In his alarm lest death was at hand, he determined 
to make reparation to the defrauded and insulted priesthood. He 
invited Anselm, the abbot of a famous monastery in Normandy, to 
accept the archbishopric. 

Anselm, who was old and feeble, declined, saying that he and 
the King could not work together. " It would be," said he, " like 
yoking a sheep and a bull." 

But the King would take no refusal. Calling Anselm to his 
bedside, he forced the staff of office into his hands. Anselm 
became the champion of the freedom of the Church. But when 
the King recovered, he resumed his old practices and treated the 
archbishop with such insult that he finally left the country. 

182. William's Merit. — William's one merit was that he kept 
England from being devoured piecemeal by the Norman barons, 
who regarded her as a pack of hounds in full chase regard the 
hare about falling into their rapacious jaws. 

Like his father, he insisted on keeping the English Church inde- 
pendent of the ever-growing power of Rome. In both cases his 
motives were purely selfish, but the result to the country was good. 

183. His Death. — His power came suddenly to an end (i 100). 
He had gone in the morning to hunt in the New Forest (§ 167) 
with his brother Henry. He was found lying dead among the 
bushes, pierced by an arrow shot by an unknown hand. 

William's character speaks in his deeds. It was hard, cold, 
despotic, yet in judging it we should consider the words of Fuller, 
" No pen hath originally written the Hfe of this King but what was 
made with a monkish penknife, and no wonder if his picture seem 
bad, which was thus drawn by his enemy." 



1087-1100] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 7 1 

184. Summary. — Notwithstanding William's oppression of 
both Church and people, his reign checked the revolt of the 
baronage and prevented the kingdom from falling into anarchy 
like that existing on the continent. 

HENRY I — 1100-1135 

185. Henry's Charter. — Henry, third son of William the Con- 
queror, was the first of the Norman kings who was born and edu- 
cated in England. Foreseeing a renewal of the contest with the 
barons (§ 179), he issued a charter^ of liberties on his accession, 
by which he bound himself to reform the abuses which had been 
practised by his brother William Rufus. The King sent a hun- 
dred copies of this important document to the leading abbots 
and bishops for preservation in their respective monasteries and 
cathedrals (§ 82). 

As this charter was the earliest written and formal guarantee of 
good government ever given by the Crown to the nation, it marks 
an important epoch in English history. It may be compared to the 
platforms or statements of principles issued by our modern political 
parties. It was a virtual admission that the time had come when 
even a Norman sovereign could not dispense with the support of the 
country. It was therefore an admission of the truth that while a 
people can exist without a king, no king can exist without a people. 

Furthermore, this charter established a precedent for those 
which were to follow, and which reached a final development in 
the Great Charter wrested from the unwilling hand of King John 
somewhat more than a century later (§ 247). Henry further 
strengthened his position with his Enghsh subjects by his mar- 
riage with Maud, niece of the Saxon Edgar, a direct descendant 
of King Alfred (§90). 

1 Charter (literally, parchment or paper on which anything may be written) : a 
royal charter is a writing bearing the king's seal by which he confers or secures 
certain rights and privileges to those to whom it is granted. Henry's charter 
guaranteed: i. The rights of the Church (which WiUiam Rufus had constantly vio- 
lated). 2. The rights of the nobles and landholders against extortion. 3. The right 
of all classes to' be governed by the old English law with William the Conqueror's 
improvements. And §ee Constitutional Summary in Appendix, page vi, § 7. 



72 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1100-1135 

186. The Appointment of Bishops settled. — Henry also re- 
called Anselm (§ 181) and reinstated him in his office. But the 
peace was of short duration. The archbishop insisted with the 
Pope that the power of appointment of bishops should be vested 
wholly in Rome. The King was equally determined that such 
appointments should spring from himself. "No one," said he, 
" shall remain in my land who will not do me homage " ( § 122). 

The quarrel was eventually settled by compromise. The Pope 
was to invest the bishop with the ring and crozier, or pastoral 
staff of office, as emblems of the spiritual power ; the King, on 
the other hand, was to grant the lands from which the bishop 
drew his revenues, and in return was to receive his homage or 
oath of allegiance. 

This acknowledgment of royal authority by the Church was of 
great importance, since it gave the King power as feudal lord to 
demand from each bishop his quota of fully equipped knights or 
cavalry soldiers (§§ 200, 202). 

187. Henry's Quarrel with Robert ; the " Lion of Justice." — 
While this church question was in dispute, Henry had still more 
pressing matters to attend to. His elder brother Robert had 
invaded England and demanded the crown. The greater part of 
the Norman nobles supported this claim ; but the EngHsh people 
held to Henry. Finally, in consideration of a heavy money pay- 
ment, Robert agreed to return to Normandy and leave his brother 
in full possession of the realm. 

On his departure, Henry resolved to drive out the prominent 
nobles who had aided Robert. Of these, the Earl of Shrewsbury, 
called " Robert the Devil," was the leader. With the aid of the 
Enghsh, who hated him for his cruelty, the earl was at last 
compelled to leave the country. 

He fled to Normandy, and, in violation of a previous agree- 
ment, was received by Henry's brother Robert. Upon that, 
Henry declared war, and, crossing the Channel, fought (1106) 
the battle of Tinchebrai,^ by which he conquered and held 

1 Tinchebrai, Normandy, about midway between Caen and Avranches, See map 
No. 8, facing page 88. 



IIOO-II35] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 73 

Normandy as completely as Normandy had once conquered 
England. The King carried his brother captive to Wales, and 
kept him in prison during his life in Cardiff Castle. This ended 
the contest with the nobles. 

By his uprightness, his decision, his courage, and by his organi- 
zation of better courts (§ 197), Henry fairly won the honorable 
title of the " Lion of Justice " ; for the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 
says, "No man durst misdo against another in his time." ^ 

188. Summary. — The three leading points of Henry's reign 
are : i. The self- limitation of the royal power embodied in the 
charter of liberties. 2. The settlement of old disputes between 
the King and the Church. 3. The banishment of the chief of the 
mutinous barons, and the victory of Tinchebrai, with its results. 

STEPHEN — 1 1 35-1 1 54 

189. The Rival Candidates. — With Henry's death two candi- 
dates presented themselves for the throne, — Henry's daughter, 
Matilda (for he left no lawful son), and his nephew, Stephen. In 
France the custom of centuries had determined that the crown 
should never descend to a female. It was an age when the sover- 
eign was expected to lead his army in person, and it certainly was 
not expedient that a woman should hold a position one of whose 
chief duties she could not discharge. This French custom had, 
of course, no force in England ; but the Norman nobles must have 
recognized its reasonableness ; or if not, the people did.^ 

Four years after Stephen's accession Matilda landed in England 
and claimed the crown. The East of England stood by Stephen, 
the West by Matilda. For the sake of promoting discord, and 
through discord their own private ends, part of the barons gave 
their support to Matilda, while the rest refused, as they said, to 

1 See, too, Summary of Constitutional History in Appendix, page vi, § 7. 

2 Before Henry's death, the baronage had generally sworn to support Matilda 
(commonly called the Empress Matilda, or Maud, from her marriage to the Emperor 
Henry V of Germany; later, she married Geoffrey of Anjou). But Stephen, with 
the help of London and the Church, declared himself " elected King by the assent of 
the clergy and the peopleP Many of the barons now gave Stephen their support. 



74 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1135-1154 

"hold their estates under a distaff." In the absence of any 
Witan or National Council (§ 117), London unanimously chose 
Stephen King (1135). 

The fatal defect in the new King was the absence of executive 
ability. Following the example of Henry (§ 185), he issued two 
charters or pledges of good government ; but without authority 
to carry them out, they proved simply waste paper. 

190. The Battle of the Standard (1138). — David I of Scot- 
land, Matilda's uncle, espoused her cause and invaded England with 
a powerful force. He was met at North Allerton, in Yorkshire, by 
the party of Stephen, and the Batde of the Standard was fought. 

The leaders of the English were both churchmen, who showed 
that on occasion they could fight as vigorously as they could pray. 
The standard consisted of four consecrated banners, surmounted 
by a cross. This was set up on a wagon, on which one of the 
bishops stood. The sight of this sacred standard made the English 
invincible. 

After a fierce contest the Scots were driven from the field. 
It is said that this was the first battle in which the English peas- 
ants used the long-bow ; they had taken the hint, perhaps, from 
the Normans at the battle of Hastings (§ 149)- Many years 
later, their skill in foreign war made that weapon as famous as it 
was effective (§ 290). 

191, Civil War (1138-1153). — For fifteen years following, 
the country was torn by civil war. While it raged, fortified 
castles, which, under William the Conqueror, had been built and 
occupied by the King only, or by those whom he could trust, now 
arose on every side. These became, as the Anglo-Saxon Chron- 
icle declares, "very nests of devils and dens of thieves." More 
than a thousand of these castles, it is said, were built. The 
armed bands who inhabited them levied tribute on the whole 
country around. 

Not satisfied with that, they seized those who were suspected 
of having property, and, to use the words of the Chronicle again, 
" tortured them with pains unspeakable ; for some they hung up 
by the feet and smoked with foul smoke ; others they crushed in 



1135-1154] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 75 

a narrow chest with sharp stones. About the heads of others they 
bound knotted cords until they went into the brain." "Thou- 
sands died of hunger, the towns were burned, and the soil left 
untilled. By such deeds the land was ruined, and men said openly 
that Christ and his saints were asleep." 

The sleep, however, was not always to last ; for in the next 
reign. Justice, in the person of Henry II, effectually vindicated 
her power. The strife for the crown continued till the last year 
of Stephen's reign. Then the Church came to the rescue, and 
through its powerful influence the Treaty of Wallingford^ was 
made. By that treaty it was agreed that Matilda's son Henry 
should succeed him. 

192. -Summary. — Stephen was the last of the Norman kings. 
Their reign had covered nearly a century. The period began in 
conquest and usurpation ; it ended in gloom. We are not, how- 
ever, to judge it by Stephen's reign alone, but as a whole. 

Thus considered, it shows at least one point of advance over 
the preceding period, — the triumph of the moral power of the 
Church over feudal anarchy. But Stephen's reign was not all 
loss in other respects, for out of the "war, wickedness, and 
waste " of his misgovernment came a universal desire for peace 
through law. Thus indirectly his very inefficiency prepared the 
way for future reforms. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE NORMAN PERIOD (1066-1154) 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — 
IV. LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUS- 
TRY AND COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND 
CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT 

193. The King. — We have seen that the Saxons, or Early Eng- 
lish rulers, in the case of Egbert and his successors, styled them- 
selves " Kings of the English," or leaders of a race or people. The 
Norman sovereigns made no immediate change in this title, but as 

1 Wallingford, Berkshire (west of London). 



76 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1154 

a matter of fact William, toward the close of his reign, claimed the 
whole of the country as his own by right of conquest. 

For this reason he and his Norman successors might properly 
have called themselves " Kings of England "; that is, supreme owners 
of the soil and rulers over it. a title which was formally assumed about 
fifty years later (in John's reign). 

194. The National Council. — Associated with the King in govern- 
ment was the Great or National Council, made up of, first, the arch- 
bishops, bishops, and abbots ; and, secondly, the earls and barons ; 
that is, of all the great landholders holding directly from the Crown. 
The National Council usually met three times a year, — at Christ- 
mas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. All laws were held to be made by 
the King, acting with the advice and consent of this Council, but 
practically the King alone often enacted such laws as he saw fit. 

When a new sovereign came to the throne, it was with the consent 
or by the election of the National Council, but their choice was gen- 
erally limited to some one of the late King's sons, and unless there 
was good reason for making a different selection, the oldest was 
chosen. Finally the right of imposing taxes rested, theoretically at 
least, in the King and Council, but, in fact, the King himself frequently 
levied them. This action of the King was a cause of constant irrita- 
tion and of frequent insurrection. 

195. The Private or King's Council. — There was also a second 
and permanent council, called the King's Council. The three lead- 
ing officers of this were: First, the Chief Justice, who superintended 
the execution of the laws, represented the King, and ruled for him 
during his absence from the country. Secondly, the Lord Chancel- 
lor (so called from cancelli, the screen behind which he sat with his 
clerks), who acted as the King's adviser and confidential secretary, 
and as keeper of the Great Seal, with which he stamped all important 
papers.^ Thirdly, the Lord High Treasurer, who took charge of the 
King's revenue, received all moneys due the Crown, and kept the 
King's treasure in the vaults at Winchester or Westminster. 

196. Tallies. — All accounts were kept by the Treasurer on tallies 
or small sticks, notched on the opposite sides to represent different 

1 The Chancellor was also called the " Keeper of the King's Conscience," because 
entrusted with the duty of redressing those grievances of the King's subjects which 
required royal interference. The Court of Chancery (mentioned § 197, note 2) 
grew out of this ofifice. 



1066-1154] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS jy 

sums. These were split lengthwise. One was given as a receipt to 
the sheriff, or other person paying in money to the treasury, while the 
duplicate of this tally was held by the Treasurer. This primitive 
method of keeping royal accounts remained legally in force until 
1785, in the reign of George III. 

197. Curia Regis/ or the King's Court of Justice. — The Chief 
Justice and Chancellor were generally chosen by the King from among 
the clergy ; first, because the clergy were men of education, while 
the barons were not ; and, next, because it was not expedient to 
entrust too much power to the barons. These officials, with the 
other members of the Private Council, constituted the King's High 
Court of Justice. 

It followed the King as he moved from place to place, to hear 
and decide cases carried up by appeal from the county courts, 
together with other questions of importance.^ In local government 
the country remained under the Normans essentially the same that 
it had been before the Conquest. The King continued to be repre- 
sented in each county by an officer called the Sheriff, who collected 
the taxes and enforced the laws. 

198. Trial by Battle. — In the administration of justice, Trial by 
Battle was introduced in addition to the Ordeal of the Saxons. This 
was a duel in which each of the contestants appealed to Heaven to 
give him the victory, it being believed that the right would vanquish. 
Noblemen'^ fought on horseback in full armor, with sword, lance, and 
battle-axe ; common people fought on foot with clubs. 

In both cases the combat was in the presence of judges and might 

1 Curia Regis : this name was given, at different times, first, to the National 
Council: secondly, to the King's Private Council; and, lastly, to the High Court of 
Justice, consisting of members of the Private Council. 

2 The King's High Court of Justice (Curia Regis) was divided, about 1215, into 
three distinct courts : i. The Exchequer Court (so called from the chequered cloth 
which covered the table of the court, and which was probably made useful in count- 
ing money), which dealt with cases of finance and revenue. 2. The Court of Com- 
mon Pleas, which had jurisdiction in civil suits between subject and subject. 3. The 
Court of King's Bench, which transacted the remaining business, both civil and 
criminal, and had special jurisdiction over all inferior courts and civil corporations. 

Later, a fourth court, that of Chancery (see § 195, and note), over which the 
Lord Chancellor presided, was established as a court of appeal and equity, to deal 
with cases where the common law gave no relief. 

3 See Shakespeare's Richard II, Act I, Scenes i and 3 ; also Scott's Ivanhoe, 
Chapter XLIII. 



yS LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1154 

last from sunrise until the stars appeared. Priests and women had 
the privilege of being represented by champions, who fought for 
them. Trial by battle was claimed and allowed by the court 
(though the combat did not come off) as late as 181 7, reign of 
George III. This custom was finally abolished in 1819.1 

199. Divisions of Society. — The divisions of society remained 
after the Conquest nearly as before, but the Saxon orders of nobiHty, 
with a few very rare exceptions, were deprived of their rank and 
their estates given to the Normans. 

It is important to notice here the marked difference between the 
new or Norman nobility and that of France. 

In England a man was considered noble because, under William 
and his successors, he was a member of the National Council, or, in the 
case of an earl, because he represented the King in the government 
of a county or earldom. 

His position did not exempt him from taxation, nor did his rank 
descend to more than one of his children. In France, on the contrary, 
the aristocracy were noble by birth, not office ; they were generally 
exempt from taxation, thus throwing the whole of that burden on the 
people, and their rank descended to all their children. 

During the Norman period a change was going on among the 
slaves, whose condition gradually improved. On the other hand, many 
who had been free now sank into that state of villeinage which, as it 
bound them to the soil, was but one remove from actual slavery. 

The small, free landholders who still existed were mostly in the old 
Danish territory north of Watling Street, or in Kent in the south. 

200. Tenure of Land (Military Service, Feudal Dues, National 
Militia). — All land was held directly or indirectly from the King on 
condition of military or other service. The number of chief-tenants 
who derived their title from the Crown, including ecclesiastical digni- 
taries, was probably about 1500. These constituted the Norman 
barons. The under-tenants were about 8000, and consisted chiefly of 
the English who had been driven out from their estates. 

Every holder of land was obliged to furnish the King a fully armed 
and mounted soldier, to serve for forty days during the year for each 
piece of land bringing ^20 annually, or about $2000 in modern 

1 Trial by battle might be demanded in cases of chivalry or honor, in criminal 
actions and in civil suits. The last were fought not by the disputants themselves 
but by champions. 



I066-II54] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 79 

money ^ (the pound of that day probably representing twenty times 
that sum now). All chief-tenants were also bound to attend the 
King's Great Council three times a year, — at Christmas, Easter, and 
Whitsuntide. 

Feudal Dues or Taxes. Every free tenant was obliged to pay a 
sum of money to the King or baron from whom he held his land, 
on three special occasions : i. To ransom his lord from captivity 
in case he was made a prisoner of war. 2. To defray the expense 
of making his lord's eldest son a knight. 3. To provide a suitable 
marriage portion on the marriage of his lord's eldest daughter. 

In addition to these taxes, or " aids," as they were called, there 
were other demands which the lord might make, such as : i . A year's 
profits of the land from the heir, on his coming into possession of his 
father's estate ; this was called a relief. 2. The income from the 
lands of orphan heirs not of age. 3. Payment for privilege of 
disposing of land.^ 

In case of an orphan heiress not of age, the feudal lord became her 
guardian and might select a suitable husband for her. Should the 
heiress reject the person selected, she forfeited a sum of money equal 
to the amount the lord expected to receive by the proposed marriage. 
Thus we find one woman in Ipswich giving a large fee for the privi- 
lege of " not being married except to her own good liking." In the 
collection of these " aids " and " reliefs," great extortion was often 
practised both by the King and the barons. 

In addition to the feudal troops there was a national militia, con- 
sisting of peasants and others not provided with armor, who fought 
on foot with bows and spears. These could also be called on 
as during the Saxon period. In some cases of revolt of the barons, 
for instance, under William Rufus, this national militia proved of 
immense service to the Crown. 

The great landholders let out part of their estates to tenants on 
similar terms to those on which they held their own, and in this way 

1 This amount does not appear to have been fully settled until the period follow- 
ing the Norman kings, but the principle was recognized by William. 

2 The clergy, being a corporate, and hence an ever-living body, were exempt from 
these last demands. Not satisfied with this, they were constantly endeavoring, with 
more or less success, to escape all feudal obligations, on the ground that they ren- 
dered the State divine service. In 1106, reign of Henry I, it was settled, for the 
time, that the bishops were to do homage to the King, i.e.^ furnish military service 
for the lands they received from him as their feudal lord. See § 186. 



80 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1154 

the entire country was divided up. The lowest class of tenants were 
villeins or serfs, who held small pieces of land on condition of per- 
forming labor for it. These were bound to the soil and could be sold 
with it, but were not wholly destitute of legal rights. 

Under William I and his successors, all free tenants, of whatever 
grade, were bound to uphold the King, and in case of insurrection or 
civil war to serve under him.i In this most important respect the 
great landholders of England differed from those of the continent, 
where the lesser tenants were bound only to serve their masters, and 
might, and in fact often did, take up arms against the King. William 
removed this serious defect. By doing so he did the country an 
incalculable service. He completed the organization of feudal la7id- 
tenure^ but he never established the contitiental syste7n of feudal 
government. (See, too. Constitutional Summary in Appendix, 
page V, § 6.) 

RELIGION 

201. The Church. — With respect to the organization of the Church, 
no changes were made under the Norman kings. They, however, 
generally deposed the English bishops and substituted Normans or 
foreigners, who, as a class, were superior in education to the 
English. It came to be pretty clearly understood at this time that 
the Church was subordinate to the King, and that in all cases of 
dispute about temporal matters, he, and not the Pope, was to 
decide. During the Norman period great numbers of monasteries 
were built. 

The most important action taken by William was the establishment 
of ecclesiastical courts in which all cases relating to the Church and 
the clergy were tried by the bishops according to laws of their own. 
Under these laws persons wearing the dress of a monk or priest, or 
who could manage to spell out a verse of the Psalms, and so pass for 
ecclesiastics, would claim the right to be tried, and, as the punish- 
ments which the Church inflicted were notoriously mild, the conse- 
quence was that the majority of criminals escaped the penalty of 
their evil doings. So great was the abuse of this privilege, that, 
at a later period, Henry II made an attempt to reform it ; but it 
was not finally done away with until the beginning of the present 
century. 

1 See Constitutional Summary in Appendix, pages iii-v, §§ 5,6. 



»^ 



'#M 



«<^ 



Waste or 
Untilled Land 



Common 
Pasture 



^^m 



As Strip. 



B's Strip 
As Strip 



C's Strip 



B's Strip 




Meadow Land 



A MANOR OR TOWNSHIP HELD BY A LORD, NORMAN PERIOD 
(The building is Ludlow Castle, Shi-opshire.) 

The inhabitants of a manor, or the estate of a lord, were: i. The lord himself, 
or his representative, who held his estate on condition of furnishing the king a certain 
number of armed men. (See §§ i6o, 200.) 2. The lord's personal followers, who 
lived with him, and usually a parish priest or a number of monks. 3. The villeins, 
bound to the soil, who could not leave the manor, were not subject to military duty, 
and who paid rent in labor or produce ; there might also be a few slaves, but this last 
class gradually rose to the partial freedom of villeinage. 4. Certain sokemen or free 
tenants, who were subject to military duty, but were not bound to remain on the 
manor, and who paid a fixed rent in money, or otherwise. 

Next to the manor house (where courts were also held) the most important build- 
ings were the church (used sometimes for markets and town meetings) ; the lord's 
mill (if there was a stream), in which all tenants must grind their grain and pay 
for the grinding ; and finally, the cottages of the tenants, gathered in a village near 
the mill. 

The land was divided as follows: i. The demesne (or domain) surrounding the 
manor house. This was strictly private — the lord's ground. 2, The land outside 



the demesne, suitable for cultivation. This was let in strips, usually of thirty acres, 
but was subject to certain rules in regard to methods of tillage and crops. 3. A piece 
of land which was divided into fenced fields, called "closes" (because enclosed), and 
which tenants might hire and use as they saw fit. 4. Common pasture, open to all 
tenants to pasture their cattle on. 5. Waste or untilled land, where all tenants had 
the right to cut turf for fuel, or gather plants or shrubs for fodder. 6. The forest or 
woodland, where all tenants had the right to turn their hogs out to feed on acorns, 
and where they might also collect a certain amount of small wood for fuel. 
7. Meadow land on which tenants might hire the right to cut grass and make hay. 
On the above plan the fields of tenants — both those of villeins and of sokemen — 
are marked by the letters A, B, C, etc. 

If the village grew to be a thriving manufacturing or trading town, the tenants 
might, in time, purchase from the lord the right to manage their own affairs in great 
measure, and so become a free town in a considerable degree. (See § 234.) 



K 



I066-II54] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 8 1 



MILITARY AFFAIRS 

202. The Army. — The army consisted of cavalry, or knights, and 
foot-soldiers. The former were almost wholly Normans. They wore 
armor similar to that used by the Saxons. It is represented in the 
pictures of the Bayeux Tapestry (see § 205), and appears to have 
consisted of leather or stout linen, on which pieces of bone, or scales, 
or rings of iron were securely sewed. Later, these rings of iron were 
set up edgewise, and interlinked, or the scales made to overlap. The 
helmet was pointed, and had a piece in front to protect the nose. 
The shield was long and kite-shaped. 

The weapons of this class of soldiers consisted of a lance and a 
double-edged sword. The foot-soldiers wore little or no armor and 
fought principally with long-bows. In case of need, the King could 
probably muster about ten thousand knights, or armed horsemen, 
and a much larger force of foot-soldiers. Under the Norman kings 
the principal wars were insurrections against William I, the various 
revolts of the barons, and the civil war under Stephen. 

203. Knighthood.^ — Candidates for knighthood were usually 
obliged to pass through a long course of training under the care 
of some distinguished noble. The candidate served first as a page, 
then as a squire or attendant, following his master to the wars. After 
seven years in this capacity, he prepared himself for receiving the 
honors of knighthood by spending several days in a church, engaged 
in solemn religious rites, fasting, and prayer. 

The young man, in the presence of his friends and kindred, then 
made oath to be loyal to the King, to defend religion, and to be the 
champion of every lady in danger or distress. Next, a high-born 
dame or great warrior buckled on his spurs, and girded the sword, 
which the priest had blessed, to his side. This done, he knelt to 
the prince or noble who was to perform the final ceremony. The 
prince struck him lightly on the shoulder with the flat of the sword, 

1 Knighthood : originally the knight (cniht) was a youth or attendant. Later, 
the word came to mean an armed horse-soldier or cavalier who had received his 
weapons and title in a solemn manner. Those whom the English called knights 
the Normans called chevaliers (literally, horsemen), and as only the wealthy and 
noble could, as a rule, afford the expense of a horse and armor, chivalry, or knight-* 
hood, came in time to be closely connected with the idea of aristocracy. Besides the 
method described above, soldiers were sometimes made knights on the battle-field 
as a reward for valor. 



82 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1154 

saying, " In the name of God, St. Michael,^ and St. George [the 
patron saint of England], I dub thee knight. Be brave, hardy, and 
loyal." 

Then the young cavalier leaped into the saddle and galloped up 
and down, brandishing his weapons in token of strength and skill. 
In case a knight proved false to his oaths, he was publicly degraded. 
His spurs were taken from him, his shield reversed, his armor broken 
to pieces, and a sermon preached upon him in the neighboring church, 
proclaiming him dead to the order. 

LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART 

204. Education. — The learning of this period was confined 
almost wholly to the clergy. Whatever schools existed were con- 
nected with the monasteries and nunneries. Very few books were 
written. Generally speaking, the nobility considered fighting the 
great business of life and cared nothing for education. To read 
or write was beneath their dignity. Such accomplishments they 
left to monks, priests, and lawyers. F'or this reason seals or stamps 
having some device or signature engraved on them came to be used 
on all papers of importance. 

205. Historical Works. — The chief books written in England 
under the Norman kings were histories. Of these, the most note- 
worthy were the continuation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in Eng- 
lish and the chronicles of William of Malmesbury and Henry of 
Huntingdon in Latin. ^ William's book and the Saxon Chronicle 
still continue to be of great importance to students of this period. 
Mention has already been made of the Bayeux Tapestry (§ 152), a 
history of the Norman Conquest worked in colored worsteds, on a 
long strip of narrow canvas. 

It consists of a series of seventy-two scenes, or pictures, done 
about the time of William's accession. Some have supposed it to 
be the work of his Queen, Matilda. The entire length is two 
hundred and fourteen feet and the width about twenty inches. It 
represents events in English history from the last of Edward the 

1 St, Michael, as representative of the triumphant power of good over evil. 

2 Among the historical works of this period may be included Geoffrey of Mon- 
mouth's History of the Britons, in Latin, a book whose chief value is in the curious 
romances with which it abounds, especially those relating to King Arthur, It is the 
basis of Tennyson's poem of the Idylls of the King. 



1066-1154] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 83 

Confessor's reign to the battle of Hastings. As a guide to a knowl- 
edge of the armor, weapons, and costume of the period, it is of very- 
great value. 

206. Architecture. — Under the Norman sovereigns there was 
neither painting, statuary, nor poetry worthy of mention. The spirit 
that creates these arts found expression in architecture introduced 
from the continent. The castle, cathedral, and minster, with here 
and there an exceptional structure like London Bridge and the Great 
Hall at Westminster, built by William Rufus, were the buildings 
which mark the time. Aside from Westminster Abbey, which, 
although the work of Edward the Confessor, was really Norman, a 
fortress or two, like Coningsborough in Yorkshire, and a few churches, 
like that at Bradford-on-Avon, the Saxons erected little of note. 

On the continent, stone had already come into general use for 
churches and fortresses. William was no sooner firmly established 
on his throne than he began to employ it for similar purposes in 
England. 

The characteristic of the Norman style of architecture was its 
massive grandeur. The churches were built in the form of a cross, 
with a square, central tower, the main entrance being at the west. 
The interior was divided into a nave, or central portion, with an 
aisle on each side for the passage of religious processions. The 
windows were narrow, and rounded at the top. The roof rested 
on. round arches supported by heavy columns. The cathedrals of 
Peterborough, Ely, Durham, Norwich, the church of St. Bartholo- 
mew, London, and St. John's Chapel in the Tower of London are 
fine examples of Norman work. 

The castles consisted of a square keep, or citadel, with walls of 
immense thickness, having a few slit-like windows in the lower story 
and somewhat larger ones above. In these everything was made 
subordinate to strength and security. They were surrounded by a 
high stone wall and deep ditch, generally filled with water. The 
entrance to them was over a drawbridge through an archway pro- 
tected by an iron grating, or portcullis, which could be raised and 
lowered at pleasure. The Tower of London, Rochester Castle, 
Carisbrook Keep, New Castle on the Tyne, and Tintagel Hold were 
built by William or his Norman successors. 

The so-called Jews' houses at Lincoln and St. Edmundsbury 
are rare and excellent examples of Norman domestic architecture. 



84 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1066-1154 

Although in many cases the castles are in ruins, yet these ruins bid 
fair to stand as long as the Pyramids. They were mostly the work 
of churchmen, who were the best architects of the day, and knew 
how to plan a fortress as well as to build a minster. 

GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 

207. Trade. — No very marked change took place in respect to 
agriculture or trade during the Norman period. The Jews who came 
in with the Conqueror got the control of much of the trade, and were 
the only capitalists of the time. 

They were protected by the kings in money-lending at exorbitant 
rates of interest. In turn, the kings extorted immense sums from 
them. 

The guilds (§ 142), or associations for mutual protection among 
merchants, now became prominent, and came eventually to have 
great political influence. 

MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 

208. Dress. — The Normans were more temperate and refined in 
their mode of living than the Saxons. In dress they made great 
display. In Henry I's reign it became the custom for the nobility 
to wear their hair very long, so that their curls resembled those of 
women. The clergy thundered against this effeminate fashion, but 
with no effect. At last, a priest preaching before the King on 
Easter Sunday, ended his sermon by taking out a pair of shears and 
cropping the entire congregation. King and all. 

By the regulation called the curfew,^ a bell rang at sunset in 
summer and at eight in winter, which was the government signal for 
putting out lights and covering up fires. This law, which was espe- 
cially hated by the English, as a Norman innovation and act of 
tyranny, was a necessary precaution against fire, at a time when 
London and other cities were masses of wooden hovels. 

Surnames came in with the Normans. Previous to the Conquest, 
Englishmen had but one name ; and when, for convenience, another 
was needed, they were called by their occupation or from some per- 
sonal peculiarity, as Edward the Carpenter, Harold the Dauntless. 
Among the Normans the lack of a second, or family, name had come 

1 Curfew: (French) couvre-feu, cover-fire. 



I066-II54] THE COMING OF THE NORMANS 85 

to be looked upon as a sign of low birth, and the daughter of a great 
lord (Fitz-Haman) refused to marry a nobleman who had but one, 
saying, " My father and my grandfather had each two names, and it 
were a great shame to me to take a husband who has less." 

The principal amusements were hunting and hawking (catching 
small game with trained hawks). 

The Church introduced theatrical plays, written and acted by the 
monks. These represented scenes in Scripture history, and, later, 
the career of the Vices and the Virtues were personified. 

Tournaments, or mock combats between knights, were not encour- 
aged by William I or his immediate successors, but became common 
in the period following the Norman kings. 



S6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [ii 54-1 189 



SECTION VI 

" Man bears within him certain ideas of order, of justice, of reason, 
with a constant desire to bring them into play . . • ; for this he labors 
unceasingly." — GuizOT, History of Civilization. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS, 1 154-1399 
THE BARONS versus THE CROWN 

Consolidation of Norman and Saxon Interests — Rise of 
THE New English Nation 

Henry II, 1154-1189. Edward I, 1272-1307.1 

Richard I, 1189-1199. Edward II, 1307-1327. 

John, 1199-1216. Edward III, 1327-1377. 

Henry III, 1216-1272. Richard II, 1377-1399. 

209. Accession and Dominions of Henry II. — Henry was just 
of age when the death of Stephen called him to the throne. 

From his father, Count Geoffrey of Anjou, came the title of 
Angevin. The name Plantagenet, by which the family came to 
be known later, was derived from the count's habit of wearing a 
sprig of the golden-blossomed broom-plant, or Plante-genet, as 
the French called it, in his helmet. 

Henry received from his father the dukedoms of Anjou and 
Maine, from his mother Normandy and the dependent province 
of Brittany, while through his marriage with Eleanor, the divorced 
Queen of France, he acquired the great southern dukedom of 
Aquitaine. 

Thus on his accession he became ruler over England and more 
than half of France, his realms extending from the borders of 
Scotland to the base of the Pyrenees.^ 

1 Not crowned until 1274. 2 See Maps Nos. 8 and 10, facing pages 88 and 130. 



1 1 54-1 189] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 8/ 

To these extensive possessions Henry added the eastern half 
of Ireland.-^ The country was but partially conquered and never 
justly ruled. The English power there has remained ever since like 
a spear-point embedded in a living body, inflaming all around it.^ 

210. Henry's Charter and Reforms. — On his mother's side 
Henry was a descendant of Alfred the Great (§ 90) ; for this 
reason he was hailed with enthusiasm by the native English. He 
at once began a system of reforms worthy of his illustrious 
ancestor. His first act was to issue a charter confirming the 
promises of good government made by his grandfather, Henry I 
(§ 185). His next was to begin levelling to the ground the 
castles illegally built in Stephen's reign, which had caused such 
widespread misery to the country^ (§ 191). He continued the 
work of-demoHtion until it is said he had destroyed no less than 
eleven hundred of these strongholds of oppression. 

Having accomplished this work, the King turned his attention 
to the coinage. During the civil war the barons had issued 
money debased in quality and deficient in weight. Henry abol- 
ished this currency and issued in its place silver pieces of full 
weight and value. 

1 Ireland : the population of Ireland at this time consisted mainly of descendants 
of the Celtic and other prehistoric races which inhabited Britain at the period of 
the Roman invasion. When the Saxons conquered Britain, many of the natives, 
who were of the same stock and spoke essentially the same language as the Irish, 
fied to that country. Later, the Danes formed settlements on the coast, especially 
in the vicinity of Dublin. 

The conquest of England by the Normans was practically a victory gained by one 
branch of a German race over another (Saxons and Normans ha-O^ing originally 
sprung from the same stock), and the two soon mingled ; but the partial conquest of 
Ireland by the Normans was a radically different thing. They and the Irish had 
really nothing in common. The latter refused to accept the feudal system, and con- 
tinued to split up into savage tribes or clans under the rule of petty chiefs always at 
war with each other. 

Thus for centuries after England had established a settled government Ireland 
remained, partly through the battles of the clans, and partly through the aggressions 
of a hostile race, in a state of anarchic confusion which prevented all true national 
growth. 

2 Lecky's England. 

3 Under William the Conqueror and his immediate successors no one was allowed 
to erect a castle without a royal license. During Stephen's time the great barons 
constantly violated this salutary regulation. 



88 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [ii 54-1 189 

211. War with France ; Scutage (1160). — Having completed 
these reforms, the King turned his attention to his continental 
possessions. Through his wife, Henry claimed the county of Tou- 
louse in Southern France. To enforce this claim he declared war, 

Henry's barons, however, refused to furnish troops to fight 
outside of England. The King wisely compromised the matter 
by offering to accept from each knight a sum of money in lieu 
of service, called scutage, or shield-money.^ The proposal was 
agreed to (1160), and means were thus furnished to hire 
soldiers for foreign wars. 

Later in his reign Henry supplemented this tax by the passage 
of a law^ which revived the national militia (§§ 132, 200) and 
placed it at his command for home service. By these two meas- 
ures the King made himself practically independent of the barons, 
and thus gained a greater degree of power than any previous 
ruler had possessed. 

212. Thomas Becket.^ — There was, however, one man in 
Henry's kingdom — his chancellor, Thomas Becket — who was 
always ready to serve him. At his own expense he now. equipped 
seven hundred knights, and, crossing the Channel, fought valiantly 
for the suppression of the rebellion in Toulouse.^ 

Becket was the son of Gilbert Becket, a Norman. According 
to tradition Gilbert went out to the Holy Land as a Crusader. 
There, it was said, he was captured, but he in turn succeeded in 
captivating the heart of an Eastern princess. She helped him 
to escape to his native land^ and then followed. The princess 
knew but two words of English, — "Gilbert" and "London." 

1 Scutage : (skue' tage) from the Latin scutum^ a shield ; the understanding being 
that he who would not take his shield and do battle for the king should pay 
enough to hire one who would. 

The scutage was assessed at two marks. Later, the assessment varied. The 
mark was two-thirds of a pound of silver by weight, or thirteen shilUngs and four 
pence (^3.20). Reckoned in modern money, the tax was probably at least twenty 
times two marks, or about I128. The only coin in use in England up to Edward I's 
reign (1272) was the silver penny, of which twelve made a shilling. 

2 The Assize or Law of Arms. 

3 Also spelled A Becket and Beket. 

4 See Map No. 8, facing page 88 (Toulouse in the south of France). 



J 



1 1 54-1 189] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 89 

By constantly repeating these, as she wandered from city to 
city, she at length found both, and the long search for her lover 
ended in a happy marriage. 

213. Becket made Archbishop (1162). — Shortly after Becket's 
return from the continent Henry resolved to appoint him Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. Becket knew that the King purposed 
beginning certain church reforms with which he was not in 
sympathy, and declined the office. But Henry would take no 
denial. 

At last, wearied with his importunity, Becket consented, but 
warned the King that he should uphold the rights of the clergy. 
He now became the head of the Church, and was the first man of 
English birth called to that exalted position since the Norman 
Conquest. 

With his assumption of the sacred office, Becket seemed to 
wholly change his character. He had been a man of the world, 
fond of pomp and pleasure. He now gave up all luxury and 
show. He put on sackcloth, lived on bread and water, and spent 
his nights in prayer, tearing his flesh with a scourge. 

214. The First Quarrel. — The new archbishop's presentiment 
of evil soon proved true. Becket had hardly taken his seat when 
a quarrel broke out between him and the King. In his need for 
money Henry had levied a tax on all lands, whether belonging to 
the barons or churchmen. 

Becket opposed this tax.^ He was willing, he said, that the 
clergy should contribute, but not that they should be assessed. 

The King declared with an oath that all should pay alike ; the 
archbishop vowed with equal determination that not a single 
penny should be collected from the Church. What the result was 
we do not know, but from that time the King and Becket never 
met again as friends. 

215. The Second Quarrel. — Shortly afterward, a much more 
serious quarrel broke out between the two. Under the law of 
William the Conqueror, the Church had the right to try in its 
own courts all offences committed by monks and priests (§ 201). 

1 See § 200, page 79, note 2, on Clergy. 



90 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1154-1189 

This privilege had led to great abuses. Men whose only claim 
to sanctity was that they wore a black gown or had a shaven head 
claimed the right of being judged by the ecclesiastical tribunal. 
The heaviest sentence the Church could give was imprisonment in 
a monastery, with degradation from the clerical office. Generally, 
however, offenders got off with flogging and fasting. 

On this account many criminals who deserved to be hanged 
escaped with a slight penalty. Such a case now occurred. A 
priest named Brois had committed an unprovoked murder. Henry 
commanded him to be brought before the King's court ; Becket 
interfered, and ordered the case to be tried by the bishop of the 
diocese. That functionary sentenced the murderer to lose his 
place for two years. 

216. The Constitutions of Clarendon (1164). — The King, now 
thoroughly aroused, determined that such flagrant disregard of 
justice should no longer go on. He called a council of his chief 
men at Clarendon,^ and laid the case before them. 

He demanded that in future the state or civil courts should be 
supreme, and that in every instance their judges should decide 
whether a criminal should be tried by the common law of the 
land or handed over to the church courts. 

He required, furthermore, that the clergy should be held strictly 
responsible to the Crown, so that in case of dispute the final 
appeal should be neither to the archbishop nor to the Pope, but 
to himself. After protracted debate the council passed these 
measures, which, under the name of the Constitutions of Claren- 
don, now became law. (See Constitutional Summary in Appendix, 
page vi, § 8, and page xxxii.) 

Becket, though bitterly opposed to this enactment, finally 
assented and swore to obey it. Afterward, feeling that he 
had conceded too much, he retracted his oath and refused to 
be bound by the Constitutions. The other church dignitaries 
became alarmed at the prospect, and left Becket to settle with 
the King as best he might. Henceforth it was a battle between 
one man and the whole power of the Government. 
1 Clarendon Park, Wiltshire, near Salisbury, 



1154-1189] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 9 1 

217. The King enforces the Law ; Becket leaves the Country. — 

Henry at once proceeded to put the Constitutions into execution 
without fear or favor. 

"Then was seen the mournful spectacle," says a champion of 
the Church of that day, " of priests and deacons who had com- 
mitted murder, manslaughter, robbery, theft, and other crimes, 
carried in carts before the commissioners and punished as though 
they were ordinary men." ^ 

Not satisfied with these summary procedures, the King, who 
seems now to have resolved to ruin Becket or to drive him from 
the kingdom, summoned the archbishop before a royal council at 
Northampton. The charges brought against him appear to have 
had Httle, if any, foundation. 

Beck-ct, though he answered the summons, refused to acknowl- 
edge the jurisdiction of the council, and appealed to the Pope. 
"Traitor ! " cried a courtier, as he picked up a bunch of muddy 
rushes from the floor and flung them at the archbishop's head. 

Becket turned and, looking him sternly in the face, said, " Were 
I not a churchman, I would make you repent that word." 

Reahzing, however, that he was now in serious danger, he soon 
after left Northampton and fled to France. 

218. Banishment versus Excommunication (1164). — Henry, 
finding Becket beyond his reach, next proceeded to banish his 
kinsmen and friends, without regard to age or sex, to the number 
of nearly four hundred. The miserable exiles, many of whom 
were nearly destitute, were forced to leave the country in 
midwinter, and excited the pity of all who saw them. 

Becket indignantly retaliated. He hurled at the King's coun- 
sellors the awful sentence of excommunication or expulsion from 
the Church. It declared the King accursed of God and man, 
deprived of help in this world, and shut out from hope in the 
world to come. In this manner the quarrel went on with ever- 
increasing bitterness for the space of six years. 

219. Prince Henry crowned; Reconciliation (1170). — Henry, 
who had long wished to associate his son. Prince Henry, with him 

1 William of Newburgh's Chronicle. 



92 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [ii 54-1 189 

in the government, had him crowned at Westminster by the Arch- 
bishop of York, the bishops of London and SaHsbury taking part. 

By custom, if not indeed by law, Becket alone, as Archbishop 
of Canterbury, had the right to perform this ceremony. 

When Becket heard of the coronation, he declared it an outrage 
both against Christianity and the Church. So great an outcry 
now arose that Henry believed it expedient to recall the absent 
archbishop, especially as the King of France was urging the Pope 
to take up the matter. Henry accordingly went over to the 
continent, met Becket, and persuaded him to return. 

220. Renewal of the Quarrel; Murder of Becket (1170). — But 
the reconciliation was on the surface only ; underneath, the old 
hatred smouldered, ready to burst forth into flame. 

As soon as he reached England, Becket invoked the thunders, 
of the Church against those who had officiated at the coronation 
of Prince Henry. He excommunicated the Archbishop of York 
with his assistant bishops. 

The King took their part, and in an unguarded moment 
exclaimed, in an outburst of passion, "Will none of the cowards 
who eat my bread rid me of that turbulent priest? " In answer 
to his angry cry for relief, four knights set out without Henry's 
knowledge for Canterbury, and brutally murdered the archbishop 
within the walls of his own cathedral. 

221. Results of the Murder. — The crime sent a thrill of horror 
throughout the realm. The Pope proclaimed Becket a saint. 
The English people felt that in a certain sense Becket had risen 
from their ranks and was of their blood (§ 212). They looked 
upon the dead ecclesiastic as a martyr who had died in the defence 
of the Church, and of all those around whom the Church cast its 
protecting power. 

The cathedral of Canterbury was hung in mourning ; Becket's 
shrine became the most famous in England. The stone pavement, 
and the steps leading to it, still show by their deep-worn hollows 
where thousands of pilgrims coming from all parts of the kingdom, 
and from the continent even, used to creep on their knees to the 
saint's tomb to pray for his intercession. 



1 1 54-1 189] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 93 

Henry himself was so far vanquished by the reaction in Becket's 
favor, that he gave up any further attempt to formally enforce 
the Constitutions of Clarendon (§ 216), by which he had 
hoped to establish a uniform system of administration of justice. 
But the attempt, though baffled, was not wholly lost ; like seed 
buried in the soil, it sprang up and bore good fruit in later 
generations. 

222. The King makes his Will; Civil War. — Some years 
after the murder, the King bequeathed England and Normandy 
to Prince Henry.^ He at the same time provided for his sons 
Geoffrey and Richard. To John, the youngest of the brothers, 
he gave no territory, but requested Henry to grant him several 
castles, which the latter refused to do. 

" It is our fate," said one of the sons, " that none should love 
the rest ; that is the only inheritance which will never be taken 
from us." 

It may be that that legacy of hatred was the result of Henry's 
unwise marriage with Eleanor, an able but perverse woman, or it 
may have sprung from her jealousy of " Fair Rosamond " and 
other favorites of the King.^ 

Eventually this feeling burst out into civil war. Brother fought 
against brother, and Eleanor, conspiring with the King of France, 
turned against her husband. 

223. The King's Penance (1173). — The revolt against Henry's 
power began in Normandy (11 73). While he was engaged 
in quelling it, he received intelligence that Earl Bigod of 

1 After his coronation Prince Henry had the title of Henry HI ; but as he died 
before his father, he never properly became king in his own right. 

2 " Fair Rosamond " [Rosa rmindi, the Rose of the world (as then interpreted)] 
was the daughter of Lord Clifford. According to tradition the King formed an 
attachment for this lady before his unfortunate marriage with Eleanor, and con- 
structed a place of concealment for her in a forest in Woodstock, near Oxford. Some 
accounts report the Queen as discovering her rival and putting her to death. She 
was buried in the nunnery of Godstow near by. When Henry's son John became 
King, he raised a monument to her memory with the inscription in Latin : — 

" This tomb doth here enclose 
The world's most beauteous Rose — 
Rose passing sweet erewhile, 
Now naught but odor vile," 



94 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [ii 54-1 189 

Norfolk^ and the bishop of Durham, both of whom hated the King's 
reforms, since they curtailed their authority, had risen against him. 
BeHeving that this new trouble was a judgment of Heaven for 
Becket's murder, Henry resolved to do penance at his tomb. 
Leaving the continent with two prisoners in his charge, — one his 
son Henry's queen, the other his own, — he travelled with all 
speed to Canterbury. There, kneeling abjectly before the grave 
of his former chancellor and friend, the King submitted to be 
beaten with rods by the priests, in expiation of his sin. 

224. End of the Rebellion and of the Struggle of the Barons 
against the Crown. — Henry then moved against the rebels in the 
north. Convinced of the hopelessness of holding out against his 
forces, they submitted. With their submission the struggle of the 
barons against the Crown came to an end. It had lasted just one 
hundred years (1074— 117 4). 

It settled the question, once for all, that England was not like 
the rest of Europe, to be managed in the interest of a body of 
great baronial landholders always at war with each other; but 
was henceforth to be governed by one central power, restrained 
but not overridden by that of the nobles and the Church. 

225. The King again begins his Reforms (1176). — As soon as 
order was restored, Henry once more set about completing his 
legal and judicial reforms (§ 216). His great object was to 
secure a uniform system of administering justice which should 
be effective and impartial. 

Henry I had undertaken to divide the kingdom into districts 
or circuits, which were assigned to a certain number of judges, 
who travelled through them at stated times collecting the royal 
revenue and administering the law (§ 187). Henry II revised 
and perfected this plan.^ 

1 Hugh Bigod : the Bigods were among the most prominent and also the most 
turbulent of the Norman barons. On the derivation of the name, see Webster's 
Dictionary, " Bigot." 

2 Grand Assize and Assize of Clarendon (not to be confounded with the Consti- 
tutions of Clarendon). The Assize of Clarendon was later expanded and made per- 
manent under the name of the Assize of Northampton. See Constitutional Summary 
in Appendix, page vi, § 7. 



1 1 54-1 189] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 95 

Not only had the barons set up private courts on their estates, 
but they had in many cases got the entire control of the town 
and other local courts, and dealt out such justice or injustice as 
they pleased. The King's judges now presided over these tribu- 
nals, thus bringing the common law of the realm to every man's 
door. 

226. Grand Juries. — The Norman method of settling disputes 
was by trial of battle, in which the contestants or their champions 
fought the matter out either with swords or cudgels (§ 198). 
There were those who objected to this club-law. To them the 
King offered the privilege of leaving the case to the decision of 
twelve knights, chosen from the neighborhood, who were sup- 
posed to know the facts. (See Constitutional Summary in 
Appendix, page vi, § 8.) 

In like manner, when the judges passed through a circuit, a 
grand jury of not less than sixteen was to report to them the 
criminals of each district. These the judges forthwith sent to 
the Church to be examined by the ordeal (§ 127). If con- 
victed, they were punished ; if not, the judges ordered them as 
suspicious characters to leave the country within eight days. 
In that way the rascals of that generation were summarily 
disposed of. 

227. Origin of the Modern Trial by Jury (1350). — In the 
reign of Henry's son John, the Church aboHshed the ordeal 
throughout Christendom. It then became the custom in Eng- 
land to choose a petty jury, acquainted with the facts, who con- 
firmed or denied the accusations brought by the grand jury. 
When this petty jury could not agree, the decision of a majority 
was sometimes accepted. 

Owing to the difficulty of securing justice in this way, it gradu- 
ally became the custom to summon witnesses, who gave their 
testimony before the petty jury in order thereby to obtain a 
rtnanimous verdict. 

The first mention of this change occurs in the reign of 
Edward III (1350) ; and from that time, perhaps, may be dated 
the true beginning of our modem method, by which the jury 



96 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [11 54-1 189 

bring in a verdict, not from what they personally know, but 
from evidence sworn to by those who do. 

Henry II may rightfully be regarded as the true founder of 
the system which England, and England alone, fully matured, 
and which has since been adopted by every civilized country of 
the globe. (See Constitutional Summary in Appendix, page vi, 
§8.) 

228. The King's Last Days. — Henry's last days were full of 
bitterness. Ever since his memorable return from the continent 
(§ 223), he had been obliged to hold the Queen a prisoner lest 
she should undermine his power. His sons were discontented 
and rebellious. Toward the close of his reign they again plotted 
against him with King PhiHp of France. War was then declared 
against that country. 

When peace was made, Henry, who was lying ill, asked to see 
a list of those who had conspired against him. At the head of 
it stood the name of his youngest son, John, whom he trusted. 
At the sight of it the old man turned his face to the wall, saying, 
*'I have nothing left to care for; let all things go their way." 
Two days afterward he died of a broken heart. 

229. Summary. — Henry II left his work only half done ; 
y^t that half was permanent, and its beneficent mark may be seen 
on the. EngUsh law and the Enghsh constitution at the present 
time. 

When he ascended the throne he found a people who had long 
been suffering the miseries of a protracted civil war. He estab- 
lished a stable government. He redressed the wrongs of his 
people. He punished the mutinous barons. 

He compelled the Church, at least for a time, to acknowledge 
the supremacy of the State. He reformed the administration of 
law; established methods of judicial inquiry which gradually 
developed into trial by jury ; and made all men feel that a king 
sat on the throne who believed in justice and was able to make 
justice respected. 



H 



1189-1199] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 97 



RICHARD I (Coeur de Lion) 1 — 1 189-1 199 

230. Accession and Character of Richard. — Henry II was 
succeeded by his second son, Richard, his first having died during 
the civil war (1183) in which he and his brother Geoffrey had 
fought against Prince Richard and their father (§ 222). Richard 
was bom at Oxford, but he spent his youth in France. 

The only English sentence that he was ever known to speak 
was when he was in a raging passion. He then vented his wrath 
against an impertinent Frenchman, in some broken but decidedly 
strong expressions of his native tongue. 

Richard's bravery in battle and his daring exploits gained for 
him the flattering surname of Coeur de Lion. He had a right to 
it, for with all his faults he certainly possessed the heart of a lion. 
He might, however, have been called, with equal truth, Richard 
the Absentee, since out of a nominal reign of ten years he spent 
but a few months in England, the remaining time being consumed 
in wars abroad. 

231. Condition of Society. — Perhaps no better general pic- 
ture of society in England during this period can be found than 
that presented by Sir Walter Scott's novel, " Ivanhoe." There 
every class appears. One sees the Saxon serf and swineherd, 
wearing the brazen collar of his master Cedric ; the pilgrim 
wandering from shrine to shrine, with the palm branch in his 
cap to show that he has visited the Holy Land ; the outlaw, 
Robin Hood, lying in wait to strip rich churchmen and other 
travellers who were on their way through Sherwood Forest. He 
sees, too, the Norman baron in his castle torturing the aged 
Jew to extort his hidden gold ; and the steel-clad knights, 
with Ivanhoe at their head, splintering lances in the tourna- 
ment, presided over by Richard's brother, the traitorous Prince 
John. 

1 Richard Coeur de Lion (Keur de Le'on), Richard the Lion-hearted. An old 
I chronicler says the King got the name from his adventure with a lion. The beast 
I attacked him, and as the King had no weapons, he thrust his hand down his throat 
i and " tore out his heart " ! 



98 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1189-1199 

232. Richard's Coronation. — Richard was on the continent 
at the time of his father's death. His first act was to Uberate 
his mother from her long imprisonment at Winchester (§ 228) ; 
his next, to place her at the head of the English, government 
until his arrival from Normandy. Unlike Henry II, Richard did 
not issue a charter, or pledge of good government (§210). He, 
however, took the usual coronation oath to defend the Church, 
maintain justice, make salutary laws, and abolish evil customs; 
such an oath might well be considered a charter in itself. 

233. The Crusade (1190) ; Richard's Devices for raising Money. 
— Immediately after his coronation, Richard began to make prep- 
arations to join the King of France and the Emperor of Germany 
in the third crusade. To get money for the expedition, the King 
extorted loans from the Jews, who were the creditors of half 
England, and had almost complete control of the capital and 
commerce of every country in Europe. 

The English nobles who joined Richard also borrowed largely 
from the same source ; and then, suddenly turning on the hated 
lenders, they tried to extinguish the debt by extinguishing the 
Jews. A pretext against the unfortunate race was easily found. 
Riots broke out in London, York, and elsewhere, and hundreds 
of Israelites were brutally massacred. 

Richard's next move to obtain funds was to impose a heavy 
tax ; his next, to dispose of titles of rank and offices in both 
Church and State, to all who wished to buy them. Thus, to the 
aged and covetous bishop of Durham he sold the earldom of 
Northumberland for life, saying, as he concluded the bargain, 
" Out of an old bishop I have made a new earl." 

He sold, also, the office of chief justice to the same prelate for 
an additional thousand marks (§ 211, note i), while the King of 
Scotland purchased freedom from subjection to the English King 
for ten thousand marks. 

Last of all, Richard sold charters to towns. One of his 
courtiers remonstrated with him for his greed for gain. He 
replied that he would sell London itself if he could but find a 
purchaser. 



1189-1199] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 99 

234. The Rise of the Free Towns. — Of all these devices for 
raising money, the last had the most important results. From 
the time of the Norman Conquest the large towns of England, 
with few exceptions, were considered part of the king's property ; 
the smaller places generally belonged to the great barons. 

The citizens of these towns were obliged to pay rent and taxes 
of various kinds to the king or lord who owned them. These 
dues were collected by an officer appointed by the king or lord 
(usually the sheriff), who was bound to obtain a certain sum, 
whatever more he could get being his own profit. For this reason 
it was for his interest to exact from every citizen the uttermost 
penny. London, as we have seen, had secured a considerable 
degree of liberty through the charter granted to it by William the 
ConquerDr (§ 154). Every town was now anxious to obtain a 
similar pledge. 

The three great objects aimed at by the ci-tizens were (i) to 
get the right of paying their taxes (a fixed sum) directly to the 
king, (2) to elect their own magistrates, and (3) to administer 
justice in their own courts in accordance with laws made by them- 
selves. The only way to gain these privileges was to pay for 
them. 

Many of the towns were rich ; and, when the king or lord 
needed money, they bargained with him for the favors they 
desired. When the agreement was made, it was drawn up in 
Latin, stamped with the king's seal, and taken home in triumph 
by the citizens, who locked it up as the safeguard of their liberties. 
If they could not get all they wanted, they bought a part. 

Thus, the people of Leicester, in ^the next reign, purchased from 
the earl, their master, the right to decide their own disputes. 
For this they paid a yearly tax of three pence on every house 
having a gable on the main street. These concessions may seem 
small ; but they prepared the way for greater ones. 

What was still more important, they educated the citizens of 
that day in a knowledge of self-government. It was the trades- 
men and shopkeepers of these towns who preserved free speech 
and equal justice. Richard granted a large number of such 



lOO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1189-1199 

charters, and thus unintentionally made himself a benefactor to 
the nation.^ 

235. Failure of the Third Crusade. — The object of the third 
crusade was to drive the Mohammedans from Jerusalem. In this 
it failed. Richard got as near Jerusalem as the Mount of Olives. 
When he had climbed to the top, he was told that he could have 
a full view of the place ; but he covered his face with his mantle, 
saying, " Blessed Lord, let me not see thy holy city, since I may 
not deliver it from the hands of thine enemies ! " 

236. Richard taken Prisoner; his Ransom (1194). — On his 
way home the King fell into the hands of the German Emperor, 
who held him captive. His brother John, who had remained in 
England, plotted with Philip of France to keep Richard in prison 
while he got possession of the throne. 

Notwithstanding his efforts, Richard regained his liberty 
(1194),^ on condition of raising a ransom so enormous that it 
compelled every Englishman to contribute a fourth of his per- 
sonal property, and even forced the priests to strip the churches 
of their jewels and silver plate. 

When the King of France heard of this, he wrote to John, 
notifying him that his brother was free, saying, " Look out for 
yourself; the devil has broken loose." Richard pardoned him; 
and when the King was killed in France (1199) John gained and 
disgraced the throne he coveted. 

237. Purpose of the Crusades. — Up to the time of the cru- 
sades, the EngHsh wars on the continent had been actuated either 
by ambition for miHtary glory or desire for conquest. The cru- 
sades, on the contrary, were undertaken from motives of religious 
enthusiasm. i| 

1 Rise of Free Towns: by 12 16 the most advanced of the EngUsh towns had 
become to a very considerable extent self-governing. See Stubbs' Constitutional 
History of England, 

2 It is not certainly known how the news of Richard's captivity reached England. 
One story says that it was carried by Blondel, a minstrel who had accompanied the 
King to Palestine. He, it is said, wandered through Germany in search of his mas- 
ter, singing one of Richard's favorite songs at every castle he came to. One day, as 
he was thus singing at the foot of a tower, he heard the well-known voice of the King 
take up the next verse in reply. 



1189-1199] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 10 1 

Those who engaged in them fought for an idea. They consid- 
ered themselves soldiers of the cross. Moved by this feeling, " all 
Christian believers seemed ready to precipitate themselves in one 
united body upon Asia." Thus the crusades were "the first 
European event." ^ They gave men something to battle for, not 
only outside their country, but outside their own selfish interests. 

Richard, as we have seen, was the first English king who took 
part in them. Before that period England had stood aloof, — "a 
world by itself." The country was engaged in its own affairs or 
in its contests with France. Richard's expedition to Palestine 
brought England into the main current of history, so that it was 
now moved by the same feeling which animated the continent. 

238. The Results of the Crusades : Educational, Social, Polit- 
ical. — In. many respects the civiKzation of the East was far in 
advance of the West. One result of the crusades was to open the 
eyes of Europe to this fact. When Richard and his followers set 
out, they looked upon the Mohammedans as barbarians ; before 
they returned, many were ready to acknowledge that the barba- 
rians were chiefly among themselves. 

At that time England had few Latin and no Greek scholars. 
The Arabians, however, had long been familiar with the classics, 
and had translated them into their own tongue. Not only did 
England gain its first knowledge of the philosophy of Plato and 
Aristotle from Mohammedan teachers, but it received from them 
also the elements of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and astronomy. 

This new knowledge gave an impulse to education, and had 
a most important influence on the growth of the universities of 
Cambridge and Oxford, though these did not become prominent 
until more than a century later. 

Had these been the only results, they would perhaps have been 
worth the blood and treasure spent in vain attempts to recover 
possession of the sepulchre of Christ ; but these were by no means 
all. The crusades brought about a social and political revolution. 
They conferred benefits and removed evils. When they began, 
the greater part of the inhabitants of Europe, including England, 

1 Guizot's History of Civilization. 



I02 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1189-1199 

were chained to the soil. They had neither freedom, property, 
nor knowledge. 

There were in fact but two classes, the churchmen and the 
nobles, who really deserved the name of citizens and men. We 
have seen that the crusades compelled kings like Richard to grant 
charters of freedom to towns (§ 234). The nobles conferred sim- 
ilar privileges on those in their power. Thus their great estates 
were, in a measure, broken up, and from this period, says Gibbon, 
the common people began to acquire rights, and, what is more, to 
defend them. 

239. Summary. — We may say in closing that the central fact 
in Richard's reign was his embarking in the crusades. From them, 
directly or indirectly, England gained two important results : first, 
a greater degree of political liberty, especially in the case of the 
towns ; secondly, a new intellectual and educational impulse. 

JOHN— 1199-1216 

240. John Lackland. — When Henry II in dividing his realm 
left his youngest son John dependent on the generosity of his 
brothers, he jestingly gave him the surname of " Lackland " 
(§222). As John never received any principality, the nickname 
continued to cHng to him even after he had become King through 
the death of his brother Richard. 

241. The Quarrels of the King. — The reign of the new King 
was taken up mainly with three momentous quarrels : first, with 
France ; next, with the Pope ; lastly, with the barons. By his 
quarrel with France he lost Normandy and the greater part of the 
adjoining provinces, thus becoming in a new sense John Lackland. 
By his quarrel with the Pope he was humbled to the earth. By 
his quarrel with the barons he was forced to grant England the 
Great Charter. 

242. Murder of Prince Arthur. — Shortly after John's acces- 
sion the nobles of a part of the EngHsh possessions in France 
expressed their desire that John's nephew, Arthur, a boy of twelve, 
should become their ruler. John refused to grant their request. 



II99-I2I6] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS IO3 

War ensued, and Arthur fell into his uncle's hands, who impris- 
oned him in the castle of Rouen. A number of those who had 
been captured with the young prince were starved to death in the 
dungeons of the same castle, and not long after Arthur himself 
mysteriously disappeared. Shakespeare represents John as order- 
ing the keeper of the castle to put out the lad's eyes, and then 
tells us that he was killed in an attempt to escape. The earlier 
belief, however, was that the King murdered him, 

243. John's Loss of Normandy (1204). — Philip of France ac- 
cused John of the crime, and ordered him as Duke of Normandy, 
and hence as a feudal dependant (§ 122), to appear at Paris for 
trial.-^ He refused. The court was convened, John was declared 
a traitor, and sentenced to forfeit all his lands on the continent. 

For a_long time he made no attempt to defend his dominions, 
but left his Norman nobles to carry on a war against Philip as 
best they could. At last, after much territory had been lost, the 
English King made an attempt to regain it. But John's famous 
Norman stronghold of Chateau Gaillard,^ or "Saucy Castle," fell, 
and then the end speedily came. PhiHp seized Normandy and 
followed up the victory by depriving John of all his possessions 
north of the river Loire.^ 

244. Good Results of the Loss of Normandy. — From that 
period the Norman nobles were compelled to choose between the 
island of England and the continent for their home. Before that 
time the Norman contempt for the Saxon was so great, that 
his most indignant exclamation was, " Do you take me for an 
Englishman?" 

Now, however, shut in by the sea, with the people he had 
hitherto oppressed and despised, he gradually came to regard 
England as his country, and Englishmen as his countrymen. 
Thus the two races so long hostile found at last that they had 
common interests and common enemies.* 

1 But M. Bemont, a recent French writer, believes that John's condemnation and 
the forfeiture of Normandy took place before Arthur's death. 

2 Chateau Gaillard (Shah' toe' Gay' yare'). 

3 See Map No, 8, facing page 88. 4 Macaulay's England. 



104 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1199-1216 

245. The King's Despotism. — Hitherto our sympathies have 
been mainly with the kings. We have watched them struggling 
against the lawless nobles (§ 224), and every gain which they have 
made in power we have felt to be so much for the cause of good 
government. But we are coming to a period when our sympa- 
thies will be the other way. Henceforth the welfare of the nation 
will depend largely on the resistance of these very barons to the 
despotic encroachments of the Crown.^ 

246. Quarrel of the King with the Church (1208). — Shortly 
after his defeat in France, John entered upon his second quarrel. 
Pope Innocent III had commanded a delegation of the monks of 
Canterbury to choose Stephen Langton archbishop in place of a 
person whom the King had compelled them to elect. When the 
news reached John, he forbade Langton' s landing in England, 
although it was his native country. 

The Pope forthwith declared the kingdom under an interdict, 
or suspension of religious services. For two years the churches 
were hung in mourning, the bells ceased to ring, the doors were 
shut fast. For two years the priests denied the sacraments to 
the living and funeral prayers for the dead. At the end of that 
time the Pope, by a bull of excommunication (§ 218),^ cut off 
the King as a withered branch from the Church. John laughed 
at the interdict, and met the decree of excommunication with 
such cruel treatment of the priests that they fled terrified from 
the land. 

The Pope now took a third step ; he deposed John, and 
ordered Philip of France to seize the EngHsh crown. Then 
John, knowing that he stood alone, made a virtue of necessity. 
He kneeled at the feet of the Pope's legate, or representative, 
accepted Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
promised to pay a yearly tax to Rome of 1000 marks (about 
^64,000 in modern money) for permission to keep his crown. 
The Pope was satisfied with the victory he had gained over his 
ignoble foe, and peace was made. 

1 Ransome's Constitutional History of England. 

2 Bull (Latin bulla, a leaden seal) : a decree issued by the Pope, bearing his seal. 



II99-I2I6] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS IO5 

247. The Great Charter. — But peace in one direction did not 
mean peace in all. John's tyranny, brutality, and disregard of his 
subjects' welfare had gone too far. He had refused the Church 
the right to fill its offices and to enjoy its revenues. He had 
extorted exorbitant sums from the barons. 

He had violated the charters of London and other cities. He 
had compelled merchants to pay large sums for the privilege of 
carrying on their business unmolested. He had imprisoned men 
on false or frivolous charges, and refused to bring them to trial. 
He had unjustly claimed heavy sums from villeins (§ 160) and 
other poor men ; and when they could not pay, had seized their 
carts and tools, thus depriving them of their means of livelihood. 

Those who had suffered these and greater wrongs were deter- 
mined td'have reformation, and to have it in the form of a written 
charter or pledge bearing the King's seal. The new archbishop 
was not less determined. He no sooner landed than he demanded 
of the King that he should swear to observe the laws of Edward 
the Confessor (§109), a phrase^ in which the whole of the 
national liberties was summed up. 

248. Preliminary Meeting at St. Albaiis (12 13). — In the 
summer (12 13), a council was held at St. Albans, near London, 
composed of representatives from all parts of the kingdom. It 
was the first assembly of the kind on record. It convened to 
consider what claims should be made on the King in the interest 
of the nobles, the clergy, and the country. 

Their deliberations took shape probably under Archbishop 
Langton's guiding hand. He had obtained a copy of the char- 
ter granted by Henry I (§ 185). This was used as a model for 
drawing up a new one of similar character, but in every respect 
fuller and stronger in its provisions. 

249. Battle of Bouvines ; Second Meeting of the Barons (1214) . 
— John foolishly set out to fight the French at the same time 
that the English barons were preparing to bring him to terms. 
He was defeated in the decisive battle of Bouvines,^ and returned 

1 Not necessarily the laws made by that King, but rather the customs and rights 
' enjoyed by the people during his reign. 2 Bouvines (Boo' veen'). 



I06 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1199-1216 

to England crestfallen (12 14), and in no condition to resist 
demands at home. Late in the autumn, the barons met in the 
abbey church of Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, under their 
leader, Robert Fitz -Walter, of London. Advancing one by one 
up the church to the high altar, they solemnly swore that they 
would oblige John to grant the new charter, or they would declare 
war against him. 

250. The King grants the Charter, 1215. — At Easter (12 15), 
the same barons, attended by two thousand armed knights, met 
the King at Oxford and made known to him their demands. 
John tried to evade giving a direct answer. Seeing that to be 
impossible, and finding that London was on the side of the 
barons, he yielded and requested them to name the day and 
place for the ratification of the charter. 

"Let the day be the 15th of June, the place Runnymede," ^ 
was the reply. In accordance therewith, we read at the foot of 
the shrivelled parchment preserved in the British Museum, " Given 
under our hand ... in the meadow called Runnymede, between 
Windsor and Staines, on the 15 th of June, in the seventeenth year 
of our reign." 

251. Terms and Value of the Charter, 1215 ; England leads in 
Constitutional Government. — By the terms of that document, 
henceforth to be known as Magna Carta,^ or the Great Charter, 
— a term used to emphatically distinguish it from all previous 
and partial charters, — it was stipulated that the following griev- 
ances should be redressed : — 

First, those of the Church ; secondly, those of the barons and 
their vassals or tenants ; thirdly, those of citizens and tradesmen ; 
fourthly, those of freemen and villeins or serfs (§ 160). 

This, then, was the first agreement entered into between the 
King and all classes of his people. Of the sixty-three articles 
which constituted it, the greater part, owing to the changes of 
time, are now obsolete ; but three possess imperishable value. 

1 Runnymede : about twenty miles southwest of London, on the south bank of 
the Thames, in Surrey. 

2 Magna Carta : carta is the spelling in the mediaeval Latin of this and the 
preceding charters. See Constitutional Documents in Appendix, page xxix. 



II99-I2I6] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 10/ 

These provide : ( i ) that 7io free man shall be imprisoned or 
proceeded against except by his peers ^^ or the law of the land ; 
(2) that justice shall neither be sold, denied, nor delayed; (3) that 
all dues from the people to the king, unless otherwise distinctly 
specified, shall be imposed only with the cojisent of the National 
Council (§ 194). This last expedient converted the power of 
taxation into the shield of liberty.^ 

Thus, for the first time, the interests of all classes were pro- 
tected, and for the first time the English people appear in the 
constitutional history of the country as a united body. So highly 
was this charter esteemed, that in the course of the next two 
centuries it was confirmed no less than thirty-seven times ; and 
the very day that Charles II entered London, after the civil wars 
of the seventeenth century, the House of Commons asked him 
to confirm it again. Magna Carta was the first great step in that 
development of constitutional government in which England has 
taken the lead. 

252. John's Efforts to break the Charter (1215). — But John 
had no sooner set his hand to this document than he determined 
to repudiate it. He hired bands of soldiers on the continent to 
come to his aid. The charter had been obtained by armed 
revolt ; for this reason the Pope opposed it. He suspended Arch- 
bishop Langton (§ 248), and threatened the barons with excom- 
munication if they persisted in enforcing the provisions of the 
charter. 

253. The Barons invite Louis of France to aid them (12 15). — 
In their desperation, — for the King's hired foreign soldiers were 
now ravaging the country, — the barons despatched a messenger 
to John's sworn enemy, PhiHp of France. They invited him to 
send over his son Louis to free them from tyranny, and become 
ruler of the kingdom. He came with all speed, and soon made 
himself master of the southern counties. 

1 Peers (from Latin pares) : equals. This secures trial by jury. 

2 Mackintosh. This provision was finally dropped in the next reign (see 
Stubbs) ; but after the great civil war of the seventeenth century (§ 493) the 
principle it laid down was firmly established. 



I08 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1199-1216 

254. The King's Death (1216). — John had styled himself on 
his great seal " King of England " ; thus formally claiming the 
actual ownership of the realm. He was now to find that the 
sovereign who has no place in his subjects' hearts has small hold 
of their possessions. 

The rest of his ignominious reign was spent in war against the 
barons and Louis of France. "They have placed twenty-five 
kings over me ! " he shouted, in his fury, referring to the twenty- 
five leading men who had been appointed to see that the charter 
did not become a dead letter. But the twenty-five did their duty, 
and the battle went on. 

In the midst of it John suddenly died, as the old record said, 
" a knight without truth, a king without justice, a Christian with- 
out faith." He was buried in Worcester Cathedral, wrapped in 
a monk's gown, and placed, for further protection, between the 
bodies of two Saxon saints. 

255. Summary. — John's reign may be regarded as a turning 
point in English history. 

1. Through the loss of Normandy, the Norman nobihty found 
it for their interest to make the welfare of England and of the 
English race one with their own. Thus the two peoples became 
more and more united, until finally all differences ceased. 

2. In demanding and obtaining the Great Charter, the Church 
and the nobility made common cause with the people. That 
document represents the victory, not of a class, but of the nation. 
The next eighty years will be mainly taken up with the efforts of 
the nation to hold fast what it has gained. 



HENRY III— 1216-1272 



256. Accession and Character. — John's eldest son, Henry, was 
crowned at the age of nine. During his long and feeble reign 
England's motto might well have been the warning words of 
Scripture, "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child !" 
since a child he remained to the last ; for if John's heart was of 
millstone, Henry's was of wax. 



i 



1216-1272] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS IO9 

In one of his poems, written perhaps not long after Henry's 
death, Dante represents him as he sees him in imagination just 
on the borderland of purgatory. The King is not in suffering, for 
as he has done no particular good, so he has done no great harm. 
He appears " as a man of simple life, spending his time singing 
psalms in a narrow valley." ^ 

That shows one side of his negative character ; the other was 
love of extravagance and vain display joined to instabihty of 
purpose. 

257. Reissue of the Great Charter. — Louis, the French prince 
who had come to England in John's reign as an armed claimant 
to the throne (§ 253), finding that both the barons and the Church 
preferred an Enghsh to a foreign king, now retired. During his 
minority- Henry's guardians twice reissued the Great Charter 
(§ 251) : first, with the final omission of the article which 
reserved the power of taxation to the National Council, and, 
lastly, with an addition declaring that no man should lose life or 
Hmb for hunting in the royal forests. 

On the last occasion the Council granted the King in return 
a fifteenth of their movable or personal , property. This tax 
reached a large class of people, like merchants in towns, who 
were not landholders. On this account it had a decided influ- 
ence in making them desire to have a voice in the National 
Council, or Parliament, as it began to be called in this reign 
(1246). It thus helped, as we shall see later on, to prepare the 
way for an important change in that body.^ 

258. Henry's Extravagance. — When Henry became of age 
he entered upon a course of extravagant expenditure. This, with 
unwise and unsuccessful wars, finally piled up debts to the amount 
of nearly a million of marks, or, in modern money, upwards 
of ;^i3, 000,000 (^65,000,000). To satisfy the clamors of his 



1 Dante's Purgatory, vii, 131. 

2 The first tax on movable or personal property appears to have been levied by 
Henry II, in 1188, for the support of the crusades. Under Henry III the idea began 
to become general that no class should be taxed without their consent ; out of this 
grew the representation of townspeople in Parliament. 



no LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1216-1272 

creditors, he mortgaged the Jews (§ 207), or rather the right of 
extorting money from them, to his brother Richard. 

He also violated charters and treaties in order to compel the 
nation to purchase their reissue. On the birth of his first son. 
Prince Edward, he showed himself so eager for congratulatory 
gifts, that one of the nobles present at court said, " Heaven gave 
us this child, but the King sells him to us." 

259. His Church-Building. — Still, not all of the King's extrava- 
gance was money thrown away. Everywhere on the continent 
magnificent churches were rising. The heavy and sombre Norman 
architecture, with its round arches and square, massive towers, was 
giving place to the more graceful Gothic style, with its pointed 
arch and lofty, tapering spire. 

The King shared the religious enthusiasm of those who built 
the grand cathedrals of Salisbury and Lincoln. He himself 
rebuilt the greater part of Westminster Abbey (§ no) as it now 
stands. A monument so glorious ought to make us willing to 
overlook some faults in the builder. Yet the expense and taxation 
incurred in erecting the great minster must be reckoned among 
the causes that bred discontent and led to civil war. 

260. Religious Reformation (122 1); the Friars; Roger Bacon. 
— While this movement, which covered the land with religious 
edifices, was in progress, religion itself was undergoing a change. 
The old monastic orders had grown rich, indolent, and corrupt. 
The priests had well-nigh ceased to do missionary work j preach- 
ing had almost died out. 

At this period a reform sprang up within the Church itself. A 
new order of monks had arisen calling themselves in Norman 
French Freres,^ or Brothers, a word which the English turned 
into Friars. These Brothers bound themselves to a hfe of self- 
denial and good works. From their living on charity they came 
to be known as Mendicant Friars. They went from place to place 
exhorting men to repentance, and proclaiming the almost forgotten 
Gospel of Christ. 

Others, like Roger Bacon at Oxford, took an important part in 

1 Freres (frar). 



1216-1272] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS I I I 

education, and endeavored to rouse the sluggish monks to make 
efforts in the same direction. Bacon'.s experiments in physical 
science, which was then neglected and despised, got him the 
reputation of being a magician. He was driven into exile, 
imprisoned for many years, and deprived of books and writing 
materials. 

But, as nothing could check the religious fervor of his mendi- 
cant brothers, so no hardship or suffering could daunt the intel- 
lectual enthusiasm of Bacon. When he emerged from captivity 
he issued his Opus Majus,^ an "inquiry," as he called it, "into 
the roots of knowledge." It was especially devoted to mathe- 
matics and the sciences, and deserves the name of the encyclo- 
pedia of the thirteenth century. 

261.- The "Mad Parliament" ; the Provisions of Oxford (1258). 
— But the prodigal expenditure and mismanagement of Henry 
kept on increasing. At last the burden of taxation became too 
great to bear. Bad harvests had caused a famine, and multitudes 
perished even in London. Confronted by these evils, Parliament 
met in the Great Hall at Westminster. Many of the barons were 
in complete armor. As the King entered there was an ominous 
clatter of swords. Henry, looking around, asked timidly, " Am I 
a prisoner?" 

" No, sire," answered Earl Bigod (§ 223) ; "but we must have 
reform." The King agreed to summon a Parliament to meet at 
Oxford and consider what should be done. Their enemies nick- 
named the assembly the "Mad Parliament" (1258) ; but there 
was method and determination in their madness, for which 
the country was grateful. 

With Simon de Montfort, the King's brother-in-law, at their 
head, they drew up a set of articles or provisions (the Provisions 
of Oxford) to which Henry gave an unwilling assent. It prac- 
tically took the government out of his inefficient hands and vested 
it in the control of three committees, or councils. (See Summary 
of Constitutional History in Appendix, page x, § 11.) 

1 Opus Majus : Greater Work, to distinguish it from a later summary entitled 
the Opus Minus, or Lesser Work. 



112 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1216-1272 

262. Renewal of the Great Charter (1253). — Meanwhile the 
King had been compelled to reaffirm that Great Charter which 
his father had unwilHngly granted at Runnymede (§250). Stand- 
ing in St. Catherine's Chapel within the partially finished church 
of Westminster Abbey (§ 259), Henry, holding a lighted taper in 
his hand, in company with the chief men of the realm, swore 
to observe the provisions of the covenant. 

At the close he exclaimed, as he dashed the taper on the pave- 
ment, while all present repeated the words and the action, " So 
go out with smoke and stench the accursed souls of those who 
break or pervert this charter." 

There is no evidence that the King was insincere in his oath ; 
but unfortunately his piety was that of impulse, not of principle. 
The compact was soon broken, and the land again stripped by 
taxes extorted by violence, partly to cover Henry's own extrava- 
gance, but largely to swell the coffers of the Pope, who had 
promised to make his son. Prince Edward, ruler over Sicily. 

263. Growing Feeling of Discontent. — During this time the 
barons were daily growing more mutinous and defiant, saying 
that they would rather die than be ruined by the " Romans," as 
they called the papal power. To a fresh demand for money Earl 
Bigod (§ 261) gave a flat refusal. "Then I will send reapers and 
reap your fields for you," cried the King to him. "And I will 
send you back the heads of your reapers," retorted the angry earl. 

It was evident that the nobles would make no concession. The 
same spii-it was abroad which, at an earlier date (1236), made the 
Parliament of Merton declare, when asked to alter the customs 
of the country to suit the ordinances of the Church of Rome, 
"We will not change the laws of England." So now they were 
equally resolved not to pay the Pope money in behalf of the 
King's son. 

264. Civil War; Battle of Lewes (1264). — The crisis was soon 
reached. War broke out between the King and his brother-in- 
law, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester (§ 261), better known 
by his popular name of Sir Simon the Righteous. 

With fifteen thousand Londoners and a number of the barons, 



1216-1272] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS I13 

he met Henry, who had a stronger force, on the heights above 
the town of Lewes, in Sussex. The result of the great battle fought 
there was as decisive as that fought two centuries before by 
William the Conqueror (§ 150), not many miles distant on the 
same coast.^ 

265. De Montfort's Parliament; the House of Commons, 1265. 
— Bracton, the foremost jui^st of that day, said in his comments 
on the dangerous state of the times, " If the King were without a 
bridle, — that is, the law, — his subjects ought to put a bridle 
on him." 

Earl Simon (§ 264) had that bridle ready, or rather he saw clearly 
where to get it. The battle of Lewes had gone against Henry, 
who had fallen captive to De Montfort. As head of the State the 
earl now called a Parliament. It differed from all its predecessors 
in the fact that for the first time two citizens from each city, and 
two townsmen from each borough, or town, together with two 
knights, or country gentlemen, from each county, were summoned 
to London to join the barons and clergy in their deliberations. 

Thus, in the winter of 1265, that House of Commons, or legis- 
lative assembly of the people, originated, which, when fully estab- 
lished in the next reign, was to sit for more than three hundred 
years in the chapter-house ^ of Westminster Abbey. At last those 
who had neither land nor rank, but who paid taxes on personal 
property only, had obtained representation. 

Henceforth the King had a bridle which he could not shake 
off. Henceforth Magna Carta (§251) was no longer to be a dead 
parchment promise of reform, rolled up and hidden away, but 
was to become a living, ever-present, effective truth. (See § 314, 
and Constitutional Summary in Appendix, page x, § 11.) 

From this date the Parliament of England began to lose its 
exclusive character and to become a true representative body 
standing for the whole nation. Hence it became the model 

^ The village of Battle, which marks the spot where the battle of Senlac or 
Hastings was fought, 1066, is less than twenty miles east of Lewes (Lew'ees). 

2 Chapter-house : the building where the chapter or governing body of an abbey 
or cathedral meet to transact business. 



114 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1216-1272 

of every such assembly which now meets, whether in the old 
world or the new. It was the beginning of what President 
Lincoln called "government of the people, by the people, for 
the people." 

266. Earl Simon's Death (1265). — Yet the same year brought 
for the earl a fatal reaction. The barons, jealous of his power, 
fell away from him. Edward, the "King's eldest son, gathered 
them round the royal standard to attack and crush the man who 
had humiliated his father. De Montfort was at Evesham ^ ; from 
the top of the church tower he saw the prince approaching. 
" Commend your souls to God," he said to the faithful few who 
stood by him ; " for our bodies are the foes' ! " There he fell. 

In the north aisle of Westminster Abbey, not far from Henry's 
tomb, may be seen the emblazoned arms of the brave earl. 
England, so rich in effigies of her great men, so faithful, too, in 
her remembrance of them, has not yet set up in the vestibule of 
the House of Commons, among the statues of her statesmen, the 
image of him who was in many respects the leader of them all, 
and the real originator and founder of the House itself. , 

267. Summary. — Henry's reign lasted over half a century. 
During that period England, as we have seen, was not standing 
still. It was an age of reform. In religion the Mendicant Friars 
were exhorting men to better lives. In education Roger Bacon 
and other devoted scholars were laboring to broaden knowledge 
and deepen thought. 

In political affairs the people through the House of Commons 
now first obtained a voice. Henceforth the laws will be in a 
measure their work, and the government will reflect in an ever- 
increasing degree their will. 

EDWARD I— 1272-13072 

268. Edward I and the Crusades. — Henry's son. Prince 
Edward, was in the East, fighting the battles of the crusades, 
at the time of his father's death. According to an account 

1 Evesham, Worcestershire. 2 Edward I was not crowned until 1274. 



1272-1307] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS II5 

given in an old Spanish chronicle, his life was saved by the 
devotion of his wife Eleanor, who, when her husband was assas- 
sinated with a poisoned dagger, heroically sucked the poison 
from the wound. 

269. Edward's First or '< Model Parliament" (1295). — 
Shortly after his return to England, Edward convened a Parlia- 
ment (1295), to which the representatives of the people were 
summoned (§ 265). This body declared that all previous laws 
should be impartially executed, and that there should be no 
interference with elections.-^ Thus it will be seen that though 
Earl Simon the "Righteous " (§§ 264, 266) was dead, his refornr 
went on. It was an illustration of the truth that though " God 
buries his workers, he carries on his work." 

Edwa;rd had the wisdom to adopt and perfect the example his 
father's conqueror had left. By him, though not until near the 
close of his reign. Parliament was firmly estabhshed, in its twofold 
form, of Lords and Commons,^ and became " a complete image 
of the nation." (See Summary of Constitutional History in 
Appendix, page xi, § 12.) 

270. Conquest of Wales (1282); Birtlj of the First Prince of 
Wales. — Henry II had labored to secure unity of law for Eng- 
land. Edward I's aim was to bring the whole island of Britain 
under one ruler. On the west, Wales only half acknowledged 
the power of the EngUsh King, while, on the north, Scotland 
was practically an independent sovereignty. The new King 
determined to begin by annexing Wales to the Crown. 

He accordingly led an army thither, and, after several victorious 
battles, considered that he had gained his end. To make sure of 
his new possessions, he erected along the coast the magnificent 
castles of Conway, Beaumaris, Harlech, and Caernarvon, all of 
which he garrisoned with bodies of troops ready to check revolt. 

In the last-named stronghold, tradition still points out a little 
dark chamber in the Eagle Tower, more like a state-prison cell 
than a royal apartment, where Edward's son, the first Prince of 
Wales, was born. The Welsh had vowed that they would never 

1 The First Statute of Westminster. 2 Lords include the higher clergy. 



Il6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1272-1307 

accept an Englishman as king ; but the young prince was a native 
of their soil, and certainly in his cradle, at least, spoke as good 
Welsh as their own children of the same age. No objection, 
therefore, could be made to him ; by this happy compromise, it is 
said, Wales became a principality joined to the English Crown.^ 

271. Conquest of Scotland (1290-1296) ; the Stone of Scone. — 
An opportunity now presented itself for Edward to assert his 
power in Scotland. Two claimants, both of Norman descent, had 
come forward demanding the crown. ^ One was John Baliol ; the 
other, Robert Bruce, an ancestor of the famous king and general 
of that name, who comes prominently forward in the next reign. 
Edward was invited by the contestants to settle the dispute. He 
decided in Baliol's favor, but insisted, before doing so, that the 
latter should acknowledge the overlordship of England, as the 
King of Scotland had done to William I. 

Baliol made a virtue of necessity, and agreed to the terms ; but 
shortly after formed a secret alliance with France against Edward, 
which was renewed from time to time, and kept up between the 
two countries for three hundred years. It is the key to most of 
the wars in which England was involved during that period. 
Having made this treaty, Baliol now openly renounced his alle- 
giance to the English King. Edward at once organized a force, 
attacked BaHol, and at the battle of Dunbar (1296) compelled 

the Scottish nobleman to acknowledge him as ruler. 

» 

1 Wales was not wholly incorporated with England until two centuries later, in the 
reign of Henry VIII. It then obtained local self-government and representation in 
Parliament. 

2 Scotland : at the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, Scotland was 
inhabited by a Celtic race nearly akin to the primitive Irish, and more distantly so 
to the Britons. In time, the Saxons from the continent invaded the country, and set- 
tled on the lowlands of the east, driving back the Celts to the western highlands. 
Later, many English emigrated to Scotland, especially at the time of the Norman 
Conquest, where they found a hearty welcome. 

In 1072 William the Conqueror compelled the Scottish King to acknowledge him 
as overlord ; and eventually so many Norman nobles established themselves in Scot- 
land, that they constituted the chief landed aristocracy of the country. The modern 
Scottish nation, though it keeps its Celtic name (Scotland), is made up in great 
measure of inhabitants of English descent, the pure Scotch being confined mostly to 
the Highlands, and ranking in population only as about one to three of the foriner. 



1272-1307] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS II7 

At the Abbey of Scone, near Perth, the English seized the 
famous "Stone of Destiny," the palladium of Scotland, on which 
her kings were crowned. Carrying the trophy to Westminster 
Abbey, Edward enclosed it in that ancient coronation chair which 
has been used by every sovereign since, from his son's accession 
down to that of Victoria. 

272. Confirmation of the Charters (1297-1299). — Edward 
next prepared to attack France. In great need of money, he 
demanded a large sum from the clergy, and seized a quantity of 
wool in the hands of the merchants. The barons, alarmed at 
these arbitrary measures, insisted on the King's reaffirming all 
previous charters of liberties, including the Great Charter (§ 251). 
Certain additions were made which expressly provided that no 
money er goods should be taken by the Crown except by the con- 
sent of the people. Thus out of the war, England " gained the 
one thing it needed to give the finishing touch to the building up 
of Parliament ; namely, a solemn acknowledgment by the King 
that the nation alone had power to levy taxes." ^ (See Summary 
of Constitutional History, in Appendix, page xi, § 12.) 

273. Revolt and Death of Wallace (1303)- — Scotland, how- 
ever, was not wholly subdued. The patriot, William Wallace, 
rose and led his countrymen against the Enghsh, — led them with 
that impetuous valor which breathes in Burns' lines : — 

" Scots wha ha'e wi' Wallace bled." 

But fate was against him. After eight years of desperate fighting, 
the valiant soldier was captured, executed on Tower Hill in 
London as a traitor, and his head, crowned in mockery with a 
wreath of laurel, set on a pike on London Bridge. 

But though the hero who perished on the scaffold could not 
prevent his country from becoming one day a part of England, 
he did hinder its becoming so on unfair and tyrannical terms. 
" Scotland," says Carlyle, " is not Ireland. No ; because brave 
men arose there, and said, ' Behold, ye must not tread us down 
like slaves, — and ye shall not, — and ye cannot ! ' " But Ireland 

1 Rowley, Rise of the English People. 



Il8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1272-1307 

failed, not for any want of brave men, but for lack of unity 
among them. 

274. Expulsion of the Jews (1290). — The darkest stain on 
Edward's reign was his treatment of the Jews. Up to this period 
that unfortunate race had been protected by the kings of England 
as men protect the cattle which they fatten for slaughter. So 
long as they accumulated money, and so long as the sovereign 
could rob them of their accumulations when he saw fit, they were 
worth guarding. A time had now come when the populace 
demanded their expulsion from the island, on the ground that 
their usury and extortion were ruining the country. 

Edward yielded to the clamor, and first stripping the Jews of 
their possessions, he prepared to drive them into exile. It is said 
that even their books were taken from them and given to the 
libraries of Oxford. Thus pillaged, they were forced to leave the 
realm, — a miserable procession, numbering some sixteen thou- 
sand. Many perished on the way, and so few ventured to return 
that for three centuries and a half, until Cromwell came to power, 
they disappear from English history (§510). 

275. Death of Queen Eleanor. — '■ Shortly after this event. Queen 
Eleanor died (§ 268). The King showed the love he bore her 
in the crosses he raised to her memory, three of which still stand. -^ 
These were erected at the places where her body was set down, 
in its transit from Grantham, in Lincolnshire, where she died, to 
the Httle village of Charing (now Charing Cross, the geographical 
centre of London). This was its last station before reaching its 
final resting-place, in that abbey at Westminster, which holds such 
wealth of historic dust. Around Queen Eleanor's tomb wax-lights 
were kept constantly burning, until the Protestant Reformation 
extinguished them, nearly three hundred years later. 

276. Edward's Reforms ; Statute of Winchester (1285). — The 
condition of England when Edward came to the throne was far 
from settled. The country was overrun with marauders. To 

1 Originally there were thirteen of these crosses. Of these, three remain : viz., 
at Northampton, at Geddington, near by, and at Waltham, about twelve miles 
northeast of London. 



1272-1307] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS I 19 

suppress these, the Statute of Winchester made the inhabitants 
of every district punishable by fines for crimes committed within 
their limits. Every walled town had to close its gates at sunset, 
and no stranger could be admitted during the night unless some 
citizen would be responsible for him. 

To clear the roads of the robbers that infested them, it was 
ordered that all highways between market towns should be kept 
free of underbrush for two hundred feet on each side, in order 
that desperadoes might not lie in ambush for travellers. 

Every citizen was required to keep arms and armor, according 
to his condition in Hfe, and to join in the pursuit and arrest of 
criminals. 

277. Land Legislation (1285, 1290). — Two important statutes 
were passed during this reign, respecting the free sale or transfer 
of land.-^ 

Their effect was to confine the great estates to the hands of 
their owners and direct descendants, or, when land changed hands, 
to keep alive the claims of the great lords or the Crown upon it. 
These laws rendered it difficult for landholders to evade, as they 
hitherto frequently had, their feudal duties to the King (§ 200) 
by the sale or subletting of estates. While they often built up 
the great families, they also operated to strengthen the power of 
the Crown at the very time when that of Parliament and the 
people w^as increasing as a check upon its authority. 

278. Legislation respecting the Church ; Statute of Mortmain 
(1279). — A third enactment checked the undue increase of 
church property. Through gifts and bequests the clergy had 
become owners of a very large part of the most fertile soil of the 
realm. No famis, herds of cattle, or flocks of sheep compared 
with theirs. These lands were said to be in mortmain, or " dead 
hands " ; since the Church, being a corporation, never let go 

1 These laws may be regarded as the foundation of the English system of 
landed property; they completed the feudal claim to the soil established by 
William the Conqueror. They are known as the Second Statute of Westminster 
(De Denis, or Entail, 1285) and the Third Statute of Westminster (Quia Emptores, 
1290). See § 316, and Summary of Constitutional History in Appendix, page 

X, § II. 



I20 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1272-1307 

its hold, but kept its property with the tenacity of a dead 
man's grasp. 

The clergy constantly strove to get these church lands exempted 
from furnishing soldiers, or paying taxes to the King. Instead of 
men or money they offered prayers. Practically, the Government 
succeeded from time to time in compelling them to do consider- 
ably more than this, but seldom without a violent struggle, as in 
the case of Henry II and Becket (§ 214). 

On account of these exemptions it had become the practice 
with many persons who wished to escape bearing their just share 
of the support of the Government, to give their lands to the 
Church, and then receive them again as tenants of some abbot 
or bishop. In this way they evaded their mihtary and pecuniary 
obligations to the Crown. To put a stop to this practice, and so 
make all landed proprietors do their part, the Statute of Mort- 
main was passed (1279). It required the donor of an estate to 
the Church to obtain a royal Hcense ; which, it is perhaps needless 
to say, was not readily granted.^ 

279. Death of Edward. — Edward died while endeavoring to 
subdue a revolt in Scotland, in which Robert Bruce, grandson 
of the first of that name (§ 271), had seized the throne. His 
last request was that his son Edward ' should continue the war. 
"Carry my bones before you on your march," said the dying 
King, " for the rebels will not be able to endure the sight of me, 
alive or dead ! " 

Not far from the beautiful effigy of Queen Eleanor at West- 
minster Abbey, " her husband rests in a severely simple tomb. 
Pass it not by for its simpHcity ; few tombs hold nobler dust." ^ 

280. Summary. — During Edward I's reign, the following 
changes took place : — 

1. Wales and Scotland were conquered, and the first remained 
permanently a part of the Enghsh kingdom. 

2. The landed proprietors of the whole country were made 
more directly responsible to the Crown. 

1 See § 200, note on Clergy, and see Summary of Constitutional History in 
Appendix, page x, § 11. 2 See Goldwin Smith's History of the United Kingdom, 



1272-1307] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 121 

3. The excessive growth of church property was checked. 

4. Laws for the better suppression of acts of violence were 
enacted and rigorously enforced. 

5. The Great Charter, with additional articles for the protec- 
tion of the people, was confirmed by the King, and the power of 
taxation expressly acknowledged to reside in Parliament only. 

6. Parliament, a legislative body now representing all classes 
of the nation, was permanently organized, and for the first time 
regularly and frequently summoned by the King.^ 

EDWARD II— 1307-1327 

281. Accession and Character. — The son to whom Edward left 
his power was in every respect his opposite. The old definition 
of the word "king" was "the man who can,^'' or the able man. 
The modern explanation usually makes him " the chief or head of 
a people." 

Edward II would satisfy neither of these definitions. He 
lacked all disposition to do anything himself; he equally lacked 
power to incite others to do. By nature he was a jester, trifler, 
and waster of time. 

Being such, it is hardly necessary to say that he did not push 
the war with Scotland. Robert Bruce (§ 279) did not expect that 
he would ; that valiant fighter, indeed, held the new English 
sovereign in utter contempt, saying that he feared the dead 
father much more than the living son. 

282. Piers Gaveston ; the Lords Ordainers ; Articles of Reform ; 
Gain by the House of Commons (1322). — During the first five 
years of his reign, Edward did little more than lavish wealth and 
honors on his chief favorite and adviser. Piers Gaveston, a French- 
man who had been his companion and playfellow from childhood. 
While Edward I was living. Parliament had with his sanction ban- 
ished Gaveston from the kingdom, as a man of corrupt practices, 

1 It will be remembered that De Montfort's Parliament in 1265 (§ 265) was not 
regularly and legally summoned, since the King (Henry HI) was at that time a 
captive. The first Parliament (including a House of Commons, Lords, and Clergy), 
which was convened by the Crown, was that called by Edward I in 1295 (§ 269). 



122 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1307-1327 

but Edward II was no sooner crowned than he recalled him, 
and gave him the government of the realm during his absence 
in France, on the occasion of his marriage. 

On his return, the barons protested against the monopoly of 
privileges by a foreigner, and the King was obliged to consent to 
his banishment. He soon came back, however, and matters went 
on from bad to worse. Finally the indignation of the nobles rose 
to such a pitch, that at the council held at Westminster the gov- 
ernment was virtually taken from the King's hands and vested in 
a body of barons and bishops. 

The head of this committee was the King's cousin, the Earl of 
Lancaster ; and from the Ordinances or Articles of Reform which 
they drew up for the management of affairs they got the name of 
the Lords Ordainers. Gaveston was now sent out of the country 
for a third time ; but the King persuaded him to return, and gave 
him the office of secretary of state. This last insult — for so the 
Lords Ordainers regarded it — was too much for the nobility 
to bear. 

They resolved to exile the hated favorite once more, but this 
time to send him "■ to that country from which no traveller 
returns." Edward, taking the alarm, placed Gaveston in Scar- 
borough Castle^ for safety. The barons besieged it, starved 
Gaveston into surrender, and beheaded him forthwith. Thus 
ended the first favorite. 

Later (1322), the important principle was established that 
whatever concerns the whole realm must be treated by a com- 
plete Parliament. The House of Commons now finally gained 
a share in legislation. 

283. Scotland regains its Independence; Bannockburn (1314). 
— Seeing Edward's lack of manly fibre, Robert Bruce (§ 281), who 
had been crowned King of the Scots, determined to make himself 
ruler in fact as well as in name. He had suffered many defeats ; 
he had wandered a fugitive in forests and glens ; he had been 
hunted with bloodhounds like a wild beast ; but he had never 
lost courage or hope. On the field of Bannockburn (13 14) he 



ORKNEY IS. ^^ W 

•pmtUndprth 

Duncanaby Head 



C. Wrath, 



SCOTLAND 

SHOWING 
BATTLE-FIELDS 

SCALE OF MILFS 

30 4i) fo 




' BRADLEY t POATES 



1307-1327] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS I23 

once again met the English, and in a bloody and decisive battle 
drove them back like frightened sheep into their own country.^ 
By this victory, Bruce reestablished the independence of Scot- 
land, — an independence which continued until the rival king- 
doms were peacefully united under one crown, by the accession 
of a Scotch king to the English throne.^ 

284. The New Favorites ; the King made Prisoner (1314-1326) . 
— For the next seven years the Earl of Lancaster (§ 282) had his 
own way in England. During this time Edward, whose weak 
nature needed some one to lean on, had got two new favorites, — 
Hugh Despenser and his son. They were men of more character 
than Gaveston (§ 282) ; but as they cared chiefly for their own 
interests, they incurred the hatred of the baronage. 

The King's wife, Isabelle of France, now turned against him. 
She had formerly acted as a peacemaker, but from this time did 
all in her power to the contrary. Roger Mortimer, one of the 
leaders of the barons, was the sworn enemy of the Despensers. 
The Queen had formed a guilty attachment for him. Together 
they plotted the ruin of Edward and his favorites. They raised 
a force, seized and executed the Despensers (1326), and then 
took the King prisoner. 

285. Deposition and Murder of the King (1327). — Having 
imprisoned Edward in Kenilworth Castle,^ the barons now resolved 
to remove him from the throne. Parliament drew up articles of 
deposition against him, and appointed commissioners to demand 
his resignation of the crown. 

When they went to the castle, Edward appeared before them 
clad in deep mourning. Presently he sank fainting to the floor. 
On his recovery he burst into a fit of weeping. Then, checking 
himself, he thanked Parliament through the commissioners for 
having chosen his eldest son Edward, a boy of fourteen, to rule 
over the nation. 

Sir WilHam Trussel then stepped forward and said : " Unto 

1 Bannockburn is northeast of Edinburgh. See Map No. 9, facing page 122. 

2 James VI of Scotland and I of England, in 1603. 

3 Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire. 



124 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1307-1327 

thee, O King, I, William Trussel, in the name of all men of this 
land of England and Speaker of this Parliament, renounce to 
you, Edward, the homage [oath of allegiance] that was made 
to you some time ; and from this time forth I defy thee and 
deprive thee of all royal power, and I shall never be attendant 
on thee as King from this time." 

Then Sir Thomas Blount, steward of the King's household, 
advanced, broke his staff of office before the King's face, and 
proclaimed the royal household dissolved. 

Edward was soon after committed to Berkeley Castle,^ in 
Gloucestershire. There, by the order of Mortimer, with the 
connivance of Queen Isabelle, the "she-wolf of France," who 
acted as his companion in iniquity, the King was secretly and 
horribly murdered. 

286. Summary. — The lesson of Edward II's career is found 
in its culmination. Other sovereigns had been guilty of misgov- 
ernment, others had put unworthy and grasping favorites in power, 
but he was the first King whom Parliament had deposed. 

By that act it became evident that great as was the power of 
the King, there had now come into existence a greater still, which 
could not only make but unmake him who sat on the throne. 

EDWARD III — 1327-1377 

287. Edward's Accession ; Execution of Mortimer. — Edward III, 
son of Edward II, was crowned at fourteen. Until he became 
of age, the government was nominally in the hands of a council, 
but really in the control of Queen Isabelle and her "gentle 
Mortimer," the two murderers of his father. 

Early in his reign Edward attempted to reconquer Scotland, but 
failing in his efforts, made a peace acknowledging the inde- 
pendence of that country. At home, however, he now gained 

1 Berkeley Castle continues in the possession of the Berkeley family. It is con- 
sidered one of the finest examples of feudal architecture now remaining in England. 
Over the stately structure still floats the standard borne in the crusades by an 
ancestor of the present Lord Berkeley. 



1327-1377] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 12$ 

a victory which compensated him for his disappointment in not 
subduing the Scots. 

Mortimer was staying with Queen Isabelle at Nottingham 
Castle. Edward obtained entrance by a secret passage, carried 
him off captive, and soon after brought him to the gallows. He 
next seized his mother, the Queen, and kept her in confinement 
for the rest of her life in Castle Rising, Norfolk. 

288. The Rise of English Commerce ; Wool Manufacture, 1339. 
— The reign of Edward III is directly connected with the rise 
of a flourishing commerce with the continent. In the early ages 
of its history England was almost wholly an agricultural country. 
At length the farmers in the eastern counties began to turn their 
attention to wool-growing. They exported the fleeces, which 
were considered the finest in the world, to the Flemish cities 
of Ghent and Bruges.^ There they were woven into cloth, and 
returned to be sold in the English market; for, as an old writer 
quaintly remarks, " The EngHsh people at that time knew no more 
what to do with the wool than the sheep on whose backs it grew." ^ 

Through the influence of Edward's wife. Queen Philippa, who 
was a native of a province adjoining Flanders,^ which was also 
extensively engaged in the production of cloth, woollen factories 
were now estabhshed at Norwich and other towns in the east of 
England, 1339. Skilled Flemish workmen were induced to come 
over, and by their help England successfully laid the foundation 
of one of her greatest and most lucrative industries. 

From that time wool was considered a chief source of the 
national wealth. Later, that the fact might be kept constantly in 
mind, a square crimson bag filled with it — the "Woolsack" — 
became, and still continues to be, the seat of the Lord Chancellor 
in the House of Lords. 

289. The Beginning of the Hundred Years' War, 1338. — 
Indirectly, this trade between England and Flanders helped to 

1 Ghent (Gent) ; Bruges (Brooje). 

2 Fuller. This remark applies to the production of fine woollens only. The 
English had long manufactured common grades of woollen cloth to some extent. 

3 Flanders : a part of the Netherlands, or Low Countries. The latter then 
embraced Holland, Belgium, and a portion of Northern France. 



126 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1327-1377 

bring on a war of such duration that it received the name of the 
Hundred Years' War. 

Flanders was at that time a dependency of France ; but the 
great commercial towns were rapidly rising in power, and were 
restive and rebellious under the exactions and extortion of their 
feudal master, Count Louis. Their business interests bound them 
strongly to England ; and they were anxious to form an alliance 
with Edward against Philip VI of France, who was determined to 
bring the Flemish cities into absolute subjection. 

Philip was by no means unwilling to begin hostilities with 
England. He had long looked with a greedy eye on the tract 
of country south of the Loire,-^ which remained in possession of 
the English kings, and only wanted a pretext for annexing it. 
Through his alliance with Scotland, he was threatening to attack 
Edward's kingdom on the north. Again, Philip's war-vessels had 
been seizing EngUsh ships laden with wool, so that intercourse 
with Flanders was maintained with difficulty and peril. 

Edward remonstrated in vain against these outrages. At 
length, having concluded an alliance with Ghent, the chief 
Flemish city, he boldly claimed the crown of France as his lawful 
right,^ and followed the demand with a declaration of war. 

Edward based his claim on the fact that through his mother 
Isabelle he was nephew to the late French King, Charles IV, 

1 Aquitaine (with the exception of Poitou) , At a later period the province got 
the name of Guienne, which was a part of it. See Map No. 8, facing page 88. 

2 Claim of Edward III to the French Crown 

Philip HI (of France) * 
• (1270-1285) 



Philip IV Charles, Count of 

(1285-1314) Valois, d. 1325 



I II I Philip VI 

Louis X Philip V Charles IV Isabelle, (of Valois) 

(1314-1316) (1316-1322) (1322-1328) m. Edward II (1328-1350) 

I of England | 

John I I John n 

(15 N0V.-19 Edward III (1350-1364) 

Nov. 1316) of England, 1327 

* The heavy lines indicate the direct succession. See note on next page. 



I3?7-I377] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 12/ 

whereas the reignmg monarch was only cousin. Nothing in 
the law of France seems to have justified the English sovereign 
in his claim, though, as we have seen, he had good cause for 
attacking Philip on other grounds. 

290. Battle of Crecy^ (1346). — For the next eight years, fight- 
ing between the two countries was going on pretty constantly on 
both land and sea, but without decisive results. Edward was 
pressed for money, and had to resort to all sorts of expedients to 
get it, even to pawning his own and the Queen's crown, to raise 
enough to pay his troops. At last he succeeded in equipping a 
strong force, and with his son Edward, a lad of fifteen, invaded 
Normandy.^ 

His plan seems to have been to attack the French army in the 
south of France ; but after landing he changed his mind, and 
determined to ravage Normandy, and then march north to meet 
his Flemish allies, who were advancing to join him. At Crecy, 
near the coast, on the way to Calais, a desperate battle took 
place. 

The French had the larger force, but Edward the better position. 
Philip's army included a number of hired Genoese cross-bowmen, 
on whom he placed great dependence ; but a thunder-storm had 
wet their bowstrings, which rendered them nearly useless, and, as 
they advanced toward the English, the afternoon sun shone so 
brightly in their eyes that they could not take accurate aim. 
The English archers, on the other hand, had kept their long-bows 
in their cases, so that the strings were dry and ready for action. 

In the midst of the fight, the Earl of Warmck, who was hard 

When, in 1328, Charles IV of France died without leaving a son, his cousin, 
Philip of Valois, succeeded him as Philip VI (the French law excluding females 
from the throne). Edward III of England claimed the crown, because through his 
mother Isabelle he was nephew to the late King, Charles IV. The French replied, 
with truth, that his claim was worthless, since he could not inherit from one who 
could not herself have ascended the throne. 

1 Crecy (Kray'see'). 

2 He landed near Cherbourg, opposite the Isle of Wight, crossed the Seine not 
very far below Paris, — the bridges having been destroyed up to that point, — and 
then marched for Calais (Kal' ay') by way of Crecy (or Cressy), a village near the 
mouth of the river Somme. See Map No. 10, facing page 130. 



128 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1327-1377 

pressed by the enemy, became alarmed for the safety of young 
Prince Edward. He sent to the King, asking reinforcements. 

" Is my son killed ? " asked the King. " No, sire, please God ! " 
" Is he wounded ? " " No, sire." " Is he thrown to the ground ? " 
" No, sire ; but he is in great danger." "Then," said the King, 
" I shall send no aid. Let the boy win his spurs ^ ; for I wish, if 
God so order it, that the honor of the victory shall be his." The 
father's wish was gratified. From that time the "Black Prince," 
as the French called him, from the color of his armor, became a 
name renowned throughout Europe. 

The battle, however, was gained, not by his bravery, or that 
of the nobles who supported him, but by the sturdy English 
yeomen. They shot their keen white arrows so thick and fast, 
and with such deadly aim, that a writer who was present on the 
field compared them to a shower of snow. It was that fatal 
snow-storm which won the day.^ 

291. Use of Cannon; Chivalry (1346). — At Crecy (§290) 
small cannon appear to have been used for the first time in field 
warfare, though gimpowder was probably known to the English 
monk, Roger Bacon (§ 260), a hundred years before. The object 

1 Spurs were the especial badge of knighthood. It was expected of every one 
who attained that honor that he should do some deed of valor; this was called 
" winning his spurs." 

2 The English yeomen, or country people, excelled in the use of the long-bow. 
They probably learned its value from their Norman conquerors, who employed it 
with great effect at the battle of Hastings. Writing at a much later period, Bishop 
Latimer said : " In my tyme my poore father was as diligent to teach me to shote 
as to.learne anye other thynge. ... He taught me how to drawe, how to laye my 
bodye in my bowe, and not to drawe wyth strength of amies as other nacions do, 
but with strength of the bodye. I had bowes boughte me accordyng to my age and 
strength ; as I encreased in them, so my bowes were made bigger, and bigger, for 
men shal neuer shot well, excepte they be broughte up in it." The advantage of this 
weapon over the steel cross-bow (used by the Genoese) lay in the fact that it could 
be discharged much. more rapidly; the latter being a cumbrous affair, which had to 
be wound up with a crank for each shot. Hence the English long-bow was to that 
age what the revolver is to ours. It sent an arrow with such force that only the best 
armor could withstand it. The French peasantry at that period had no skill with 
this weapon ; and about the only part they took in a battle was to stab horses and 
despatch wounded men. 

Scott, in the Archery Contest in Ivanhoe (Chapter XIII) has given an excellent 
picture of the English bowman. 




THE BATTLE OF CRECY, 1346 



1327-1377] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 1 29 

of the cannon was to frighten and annoy the horses of the French 
cavalry. They were laughed at as ingenious toys ; but in the 
course of the next two centuries those toys revolutionized warfare 
and made the steel-clad knight httle more than a tradition and a 
name (§ 322). 

In its day, however, knighthood did the world good service. 
Chivalry aimed to make the profession of arms a noble instead of 
a brutal calhng. It gave it somewhat of a religious character. 

It taught the warrior the worth of honor, truthfulness, and 
courtesy, as well as valor, — qualities which still survive in the best 
type of the modern gentleman. We owe, therefore, no small debt 
to that military brotherhood of the past, and may join the English 
poet in his epitaph on the order : — 

" The Knights are dust, 
Their good swords rust ; 
Their souls are with the saints, we trust."! 

292. Edward III takes Calais (1347). — Edward now marched 
against Calais.^ He was particularly anxious to take the place : 
first, because it was a favorite resort of desperate pirates ; secondly, 
because such a fortified port on the Strait 'of Dover, within sight 
of the chalk cliffs of England, would give him at all times " an 
open doorway into France." 

After besieging it for nearly a year, the garrison was stan^ed 
into submission and prepared to open the gates. Edward was so 
exasperated with the stubborn resistance the town had made, that 
he resolved to put the entire population to the sword. But at 
last he consented to spare them, on condition that six of the chief 
men should give themselves up to be hanged. 

A meeting was called, and St. Pierre,^ the wealthiest citizen of 
the place, volunteered, with five others, to go forth and die. 

Bareheaded, barefooted, with halters round their necks, they 
silently went out, carrying the keys of the city. When they 
appeared before the English King, he ordered the executioner, 
who was standing by, to seize them and carry out the sentence 

1 Coleridge; see Scott, The Knight's Tomb. 2 Calais (Kal'ay'). 

3 St. Pierre (San Pee' ere'). 



130 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1327-1377 

forthwith. But Queen Philippa, who had accompanied her hus- 
band, now fell on her knees before him, and with tears begged 
that they might be forgiven. For a long time Edward was inex- 
orable, but finally, unable to resist her entreaties, he granted her 
request, and the men who had dared to face death for others 
found life both for themselves and their fellow-citizens.^ 

293. Victory of Poitiers^ (1356). — After a long truce, war 
again broke out. Philip VI had died, and his son, John II, now 
sat on the French throne. Edward, during this campaign, ravaged 
Northern France. The next year his son, the Black Prince 
(§ 290), marched from Bordeaux^ into the heart of the country. 

Reaching Poitiers * with a force of ten thousand men, he found 
himself nearly surrounded by a French army of sixty thousand. 
He so placed his troops amidst the narrow lanes and vineyards, 
that the enemy could not attack him with their full strength. 
Again the English archers gained the day (§ 290), and King John 
himself was taken prisoner and carried in triumph to England. 

294. Peace of Bretigny^ (1360). — The victory of Poitiers was 
followed by another truce ; then war began again. Edward in- 
tended besieging Paris, but was forced to retire to obtain provis- 
ions for his troops. Negotiations were now opened by the French. 
While they were going on, a terrible thunder-storm destroyed 
great numbers of men and horses in Edward's camp. 

Edward, beheving it a sign of the displeasure of Heaven against 
his expedition, fell on his knees, and within sight of the Cathedral 
of Chartres® vowed to make peace. A treaty was accordingly 
signed at Bretigny near by. By it, Edward renounced all claim to 
Normandy and the French crown."^ France, on the other hand, 
acknowledged the right of England, in full sovereignty, to the 
country south of the Loire, together with Calais, and agreed to pay 
an enormous ransom in gold for the restoration of King John. 

1 See Froissart's Chronicles. 2 Poitiers (Pwa-te-a', nearly like Pwi-te-a')- 

3 Bordeaux (Bor'doe'). 

4 Poitiers, near a southern branch of the Loire. See Map No. 10, facing page 130. 

5 Bretigny (Bray-teen-yee') • ^ Chartres (Shartr). 

7 But the title of " King of France " was retained by EngUsh sovereigns down to 
a late period of the reign of George III. 



1327-1377] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS I3I 

295. Effects of the French Wars in England. — The great gain 
to England from these wars was not in the territory conquered, 
but in the new feeling of unity they aroused among all classes. 
The memory of the brave deeds achieved in those fierce contests 
on a foreign soil never faded out. The glory of the Black Prince 
(§ 293), whose rusty helmet and dented shield still hang above his 
tomb in Canterbury Cathedral/ became one with the glory of the 
plain bowmen, whose names are found only in country churchyards. 

Henceforth, whatever lingering feeling of jealousy and hatred 
had remained in England, between the Norman and the EngUsh- 
man (§ 244), now gradually melted away. An honest, patriotic 
pride made both feel that at last they had become a united and 
homogeneous people. 

The second effect of the wars was political. In order to carry 
them on, the King had to apply constantly to Parliament for 
money. Each time that body granted a supply, they insisted on 
some reform which increased their strength, and brought the 
Crown more and more under the influence of the nation. (See 
Summary of Constitutional History in Appendix, page xii, § 13.) 

Thus it came to be clearly understood, that though the King 
held the sword, the people held the purse ; and that the ruler 
who made the greatest concessions got the largest grants. 

It was also in this reign that the House of Commons, which 
now sat as a separate body, and not, as at first, with the Lords,^ 
obtained the important power of impeaching, or bringing to trial 
before the Upper House, any of the King's ministers or council 
guilty of misgovernment. (See Summary of Constitutional His- 
tory in Appendix, page xii, § 13.) 

About this time, also, statutes were passed which forbade 
appeals from the King's courts of justice to that of the Pope,^ 

1 These are probably the oldest accoutrements of the kind existing in Great 
Britain. The shield is of embossed leather stretched over a wooden frame, and is 
almost as hard as metal ; the helmet is of iron. See Stothard's Monumental Effigies. 

2 The knights of the shire, or country gentlemen, now took their seats with the 
House of Commons, and as they were men of property and influence, this greatly 
increased the power of the representatives of the people in Parliament. 

3 First Statute of Provisors (1351) and of Praemunire (1353). See § 317. 



132 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1327-1377 

who was then a Frenchman, and was believed to be under French 
political influence. 

All foreign church officials were prohibited from taking money 
from the EngHsh Church, or interfering in any way with its 
management.-^ 

296. The Black Death (1349). — Shortly after the first cam- 
paign in France, a frightful pestilence broke out in London, which 
swept over the country, destroying upwards of half the popula- 
tion. The disease, which was known as the Black Death,^ had 
already traversed Europe, where it had proved equally fatal. 

" How many amiable young persons," said an Italian writer of 
that period,^ " breakfasted with their friends in the morning, who, 
when evening came, supped with their ancestors ! " In Bristol 
and some other English cities, the mortality was so great that the 
living were hardly able to bury the dead ; so that all business, 
and for a time even war, came to a standstill. 

297. Effect of the Plague on Labor, 1349. — After the pesti- 
lence had subsided, it was impossible to find laborers enough to 
till the soil and shear the sheep. Those who were free now 
demanded higher wages, while the villeins, or serfs (§ 160), and 
slaves left their masters, and roamed about the country asking 
pay for their work, like freemen. 

It was a general agricultural strike, which lasted over thirty 
years. It marks the beginning of that contest between capital 
and labor which had such an important influence in the next 
reign, and which, after a lapse of more than five hundred years, 
is not yet satisfactorily adjusted. 

Parliament endeavored to restore order. It passed laws for- 
bidding any freeman to ask more for a day's work than before 
the plague. It gave the master the right to punish a serf who 
persisted in running away, by branding him on the forehead with 
the letter " F," for fugitive. 

But legislation was all in vain ; the movement had begun, and 



1 Statute of Provisors (1351), and see § 317. 

2 Black Death : so called from the black spots it produced on the skin. 

3 Boccaccio's Decameron. 



J 




THE TOMB OF THE BLACK PRINCE IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 



1327-1377] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 1 33 

parliamentary statutes could no more stop it than they could stop 
the ocean tide. It continued to go on until it reached its climax 
in the peasant insurrection led by Wat Tyler under Edward's 
successor, Richard II (§ 303). 

298. Beginning of English Literature, 1369-1377. — During 
Edward's reign the first work in English prose may have been 
written. It was a volume of travels by Sir John Mandeville, who 
had journeyed in the East for over thirty years. On his return 
he wrote an account of what he had heard and seen, first in Latin, 
that the learned might read it ; next in French, that the nobles 
might read it ; and lastly he, or some unknown person, translated 
it into EngHsh for the common people. He dedicated the work 
to the King. 

Perhaps the most interesting and wonderful thing in it was the 
statement of his behef that the world is a globe, and that a ship 
may sail round it "above and beneath," — an assertion which 
probably seemed to many who read it then as less credible than 
any of the marvellous stories in which his book abounds. 

William Langland was writing rude verses (1369), about his 
"vision of Piers the Plowman," contrasting "the wealth and 
woe " of the world, and so helping forward that democratic out- 
break which was soon to take place among those who knew the 
woe and wanted the wealth. John Wycliffe, a lecturer at Oxford, 
attacked the rich and indolent churchmen in a series of tracts and 
sermons, while Chaucer, who had fought on the fields of France, 
was preparing to bring forth the first great poem in our language.^ 

299. The " Good Parliament " (1376) ; Edward's Death. — The 
"Good Parliament" (1376) attempted to carry through impor- 
tant reforms. It impeached (for the first time in English history)^ 
certain prominent men for fraud. But in the end its work failed 
for want of a leader. The King's last days were far from happy. 
His son, the Black Prince (§ 290), had died, and Edward fell 
entirely into the hands of selfish favorites and ambitious schemers 
like John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Perhaps the worst one of 

1 Wycliffe and Chaucer will appear more prominently in the next reign. 

2 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xii, § 13. 



134 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1327-1377 

this corrupt " ring " was a woman named Alice Ferrers, who, after 
Queen Philippa was no more, got almost absolute control of the 
King. She stayed with him until his last sickness. When his 
eyes began to glaze in death, she plucked the rings from his 
unresisting hands, and fled from the palace. 

300. Summary. — During this reign the following events 
deserve especial notice : — 

1. The acknowledgment of the independence of Scotland. 

2. The establishment of the manufacture of fine woollens in 
England. 

3. The beginning of the Hundred Years' War, with the victories 
of Crecy, and Poitiers, the Peace of Bretigny, and their social and 
pohtical results in England. 

4. The Black Death and its results on labor. 

5. The partial emancipation of the EngHsh Church from the 
power of Rome. 

6. The rise of modern literature, represented by the. works of 
Mandeville, Langland, and the early writings of WycHffe and 
Chaucer. 

RICHARD II— 1377-1399 

301. England at Richard's Accession. — The death of the 
Black Prince (§§ 290, 299) left his son Richard heir to the 
crown. As he was but eleven years old. Parliament provided 
that the government during his minority should be carried on 
by a council; but John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (§ 299), 
speedily got the control of affairs.^ 

He was an unprincipled man, who wasted the nation's money, 
opposed reform, and was especially hated by the laboring classes. 
The times were critical. War had again broken out with both 
Scotland and France, the French fleet was raiding the English 
coast, the national treasury had no money to pay its troops, and 
the government debt was rapidly accumulating. ■ J| 

1 John of Gaunt (a corruption of Ghent, his birthplace): he was a younger brother 
of Edward, the Black Prince. 



J 



1377-1399] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 1 35 

302. The New Tax ; Tyler and Ball (1381). — To raise money, 
it was resolved to levy a new form of tax, — a poll or head tax, — 
which had first been tried on a small scale during the last year of 
the previous reign. The attempt had been made to assess it on 
all classes, from laborers to lords. 

This imposition was now renewed in a much more oppressive 
form. Not only every laborer, but every member of a laborer's 
family above the age of fifteen, was required to pay what would 
be equal to the wages of an able-bodied man for at least several 
days' work.^ 

We have already seen that, owing to the ravages of the Black 
Death, and the strikes which followed, the country was on ti^e 
verge oj" revolt (§§ 296, 297). This new tax was the spark that 
caused the explosion. The money was roughly demanded in 
every poor man's cottage, and its collection caused the greatest 
distress. In attempting to enforce payment, a brutal collector 
shamefully insulted the young daughter of a workman named Wat 
Tyler. The indignant father, hearing the girl's cry for help, 
snatched up a hammer, and rushing in, struck the ruffian dead 
on the spot. 

Tyler then collected a multitude of discontented serfs ^ and free 
laborers on Blackheath Common, near London, with the determi- 
nation of attacking the city and overthrowing the Government. 

John Ball, a fanatical priest, harangued the gathering, now sixty 
thousand strong, using by way of a text lines which were at that 
time familiar to every workingman : — 

" When Adam delved and Eve span, 
Who was then the gentleman ? " 

"Good people," he cried, "things will never go well in Eng- 
land so long as goods be not in common, and so long as there be 
villeins (§ 160) and gentlemen. They call us slaves, and beat us 

1 The tax on laborers and their families varied from four to twelve pence each, 
the assessor having instructions to collect the latter sum, if possible. The wages of 
a day-laborer were then about a penny, so that the smallest tax for a family of three 
would represent the entire pay for nearly a fortnight's labor. See Pearson's England 
in the Fourteenth Century. 2 Serfs or vill eins. See §^160^ 



136 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i377-i399 

if we are slow to do their bidding, but God has now given us the 
day to shake off our bondage." 

303. The Great Outbreak; Violence in London (1381). — 
Twenty years before there had been similar outbreaks in Flan- 
ders and in France. This, therefore, was not an isolated instance 
of insurrection, but rather part of a general uprising. The 
rebellion begun by Tyler and Ball (§ 302) spread through the 
southern and eastern counties of England, taking different forms 
in different districts. It was violent in St. Albans, where the 
serfs rose against the exactions of the abbot, but it reached 
its greatest height in London. 

For three weeks the mob held possession of the capital. They 
pillaged and then burned John of Gaunt' s palace (§§ 299, 301). 
They seized and beheaded the Lord Chancellor and the chief 
toUector of the odious poll-tax (§ 302). They destroyed all the 
law papers they could lay hands on, and ended by murdering a 
number of lawyers ; for the rioters believed that the members of 
that profession spent their time forging the chains which held the 
laboring class in subjection. 

304. Demands of the Rebels ; End of the Rebellion. — The 
insurrectionists demanded of the King that villeinage (§ 160) 
should be abolished, and that the rent of agricultural lands should 
be fixed by Parliament at a uniform rate in money. They also 
insisted that trade should be free, and that a general uncondi- 
tional pardon should be granted to all who had taken part in the 
rebellion. 

Richard promised redress ; but while negotiations were going 
on, Walworth, mayor of London, struck down Tyler with his 
dagger, and with his death the whole movement collapsed almost 
as suddenly as it arose. Parhament now began a series of merci- 
less executions, and refused to consider any of the claims which 
Richard had shown a disposition to listen to. In their punish- 
ment of the rebels the House of Commons vied with the Lords 
in severity, few showing any sympathy with the efforts of the 
peasants to obtain their freedom from feudal bondage. 

The uprising, however, was not in vain, for by it the old 



1377-1399] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 1 3/ 

restrictions were in some degree loosened, so that in the course 
of the next century and a half villeinage (§ 160) was gradually 
abolished, and the English laborer acquired that greatest yet 
most perilous of all rights, the complete ownership of himself.^ 

So long as he was a serf, the peasant could claim assistance 
from his master in sickness and old age ; in attaining independ- 
ence he had to risk the danger of pauperism, which began with 
it, — this possibility being part of the price which man must 
everywhere pay for the inestimable privilege of freedom. 

305. The New Movement in Literature (1390?). — The same 
spirit which demanded emancipation on the part of the working 
classes showed itself in literature. We have already seen (§ 298) 
how, in the previous reign, Langland, in his poem of " Piers 
Plowman," gave bold utterance to the growing discontent of 
the times in his declaration that the rich and great destroyed 
the poor. 

In a different spirit, Chaucer, " the morning-star of Enghsh 
song," now began (1390?) to write his "Canterbury Tales," a 
series of stories in verse, supposed to be told by a merry band 
of pilgrims on their way from the Tabard-Inn, Southwark,^ to the 
shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury (§ 221). 

There is little of Langland's complaint in Chaucer, for he was 
generally a favorite at court, seeing mainly the bright side of 
life, and sure of his yearly allowance of money and daily pitcher 
of wine from the royal bounty. Yet, with all his mirth, there is 
a vein of playful satire in his description of men and things. 
His pictures of jolly monks and easy-going churchmen, with his 
lines addressed to his purse as his " saviour, as down in this 
world here," show that he saw beneath the surface of things. 
He too was thinking, at least at times, of the manifold evils of 
poverty and of that danger springing from religious indifference 
which poor Langland had taken so much to heart. 

1 In Scotland villeinage lasted much longer, and so late as 1774, in the reign of 
George III, men working in coal and salt mines were held in a species of slavery, 
which was finally abolished the following year. 

2 Southwark. See note to § 153. 



138 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1377-1399 

306. Wycliffe; the First English Bible, 1378. — But the 
real reformer of that day was John WycHffe, rector of Lutter- 
worth in Leicestershire and lecturer at Oxford. He boldly 
attacked the religious and the poHtical corruption of the age. 
The Mendicant Friars, who had once done such good work 
(§ 260), had now grown too rich and lazy to be of further use. 

Wycliffe organized a new band of brothers, known as " Poor 
Priests," to take up and push forward the reforms the friars had 
dropped. Clothed in red sackcloth cloaks, barefooted, with staff 
in hand, they went about from town to town ^ preaching " God's 
law," and demanding that Church and State bring themselves 
into harmony with it. 

The only Bible then in use was the Latin version. The people 
could not read a Hne of it, and many priests were almost as 
ignorant of its contents. To carry on the revival which he had 
begun, Wycliffe now translated the Scriptures into English, 1378. 
The work was copied and circulated by the " Poor Priests." 

But the cost of such a book in manuscript — for the printing- 
press had not yet come into existence — was so great that only 
the rich could buy the complete volume. Many, however, who 
had no money would give a load of farm produce for a few 
favorite chapters. 

In this way Wycliffe' s translation was spread throughout the 
country among all classes.^ Later, when persecution began, men 
hid these precious copies and read them with locked doors at 
night, or met in the forests to hear them expounded by preachers 
who went about at the peril of their lives. These things led 
Wycliffe's enemies to complain " that common men and women 
who could read were better acquainted with the Scriptures than 
the most learned and intelligent of the clergy." 

1 Compare Chaucer's 

" A good man ther was of religioun, 
That was a poure persone [parson] of a town." 

Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (479). 

2 The great number of copies sent out is shown by the fact that after the lapse 
of five hundred years, one hundred and sixty-five, more or less complete, are still 
preserved in England. 



1377- 1399] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 1 39 

307. The Lollards; Wycliffe's Remains burned. — The fol^ 
lowers of Wycliffe eventually became known as Lollards, or Psalm- 
singers.-^ From having been religious reformers denouncing the 
wealth and greed of a corrupt Church, they would seem, at least 
in many cases, to have degenerated into socialists or communists. 
They demanded, like John Ball (§ 302), — who may have been 
one of their number, — that all property should be equally 
divided, and that all rank should be abolished. 

This fact should be borne in mind with reference to the sub- 
sequent efforts made by the Government to suppress the move- 
ment. In the eyes of the Church, the Lollards were heretics ; in 
the judgment of many moderate men, they were destructionists 
and anarchists, as unreasonable and as dangerous as the " dyna- 
miters " of to-day. 

More than forty years after Wycliffe's death (1384), a decree 
of the church council of Constance ^ ordered the reformer's body 
to be dug up and burned (1428). But his influence had not 
only permeated England, but had passed to the continent, and 
was preparing the way for that greater movement which Luther 
was to inaugurate in the sixteenth century. 

Tradition says that the ashes of his corpse were thrown into a 
brook flowing near the parsonage of Lutterworth, the object being 
to utterly destroy and obliterate the remains of the arch-heretic. 
Fuller says : " This brook did convey his ashes into the Avon, 
Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow sea, and that into the 
wide ocean. And so the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of 
his doctrine, which is now dispersed all the world over." ^ 

308. Richard's Misgovernment ; the '* Merciless Parliament." 
— Richard's reign was unpopular with all classes. The people 

1 Or " Babblers." 

2 Constance, Southern Germany. This Council (141 5) sentenced John Huss and 
Jerome of Prague, both of whom may be considered Wycliffites, to the stake. 

3 Fuller's Church History of Britain. Compare also Wordsworth's Sonnet to 
Wycliffe, and the lines, attributed to an unknown writer of Wycliffe's time : — 

" The Avon to the Severn runs, 

tThe Severn to the sea ; 
ij And Wycliffe's dust shall spread abroad, 



I40 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1377-1399 

hated him for his extravagance ; the clergy, for his failing to put 
down the Wycliffites (§§ 306, 307), with the doctrines of whose 
founder he was believed to sympathize ; while the nobles disliked 
his injustice and favoritism. 

In the " Merciless Parliament " (1388) the " Lords Appellant " ^ 
put to death such of his ministers or chief counsellors as they 
could lay hands on. Later, that body attempted some political 
reforms, which were partially successful. But the King soon 
regained his power, and took, summary vengeance (1397) on 
the " Lords Appellant." Two influential men were left, Thomas 
Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of 
Hereford, whom he had found no opportunity to punish. After 
a time they openly quarrelled, and accused each other of treason. 

A challenge passed between them, and they were to fight the 
matter out in the King's presence ; but when the day arrived, 
and they came ready for the combat, the King banished both 
from England (1398). Shortly after they had left the country 
Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, died. 
Contrary to all law, Richard now seized and appropriated the 
estate, which belonged by right to the banished nobleman. 

309. Richard deposed and murdered (1399). — When Boling- 
broke, now by his father's death Duke of Lancaster, heard of the 
outrage, he raised a small force and returned to England, demand- 
ing the restitution of his lands. 

Finding that the powerful family of the Percies were willing to 
aid him, and that many of the common people desired a change 
of government, the duke boldly claimed the crown, on the ground 
that Richard had forfeited it by his tyranny, and that he stood 
next in succession through his descent from Henry HI. But in 
reality Henry Bolingbroke had no claim save that given by right 
of conquest, since the boy Edmund Mortimer held the direct title 
to the crown.^ 

The King now fell into Henry's hands, and events moved rap 
idly to a crisis. Richard had rebuilt Westminster Hall (§ 206). 



1 The " Lords Appellant " were the noblemen who " appealed " or accused Rich- 
ard's counsellors of treason. 2 See genealogical table, under No. 4, on page 14 






I377-I399] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 14I 

The first Parliament which assembled there met to depose him, and 
to give his throne to the victorious Duke of Lancaster. Shake- 
speare represents the fallen monarch saying in his humiliation : — 

" With mine own tears I wash away my balm,i 
With mine own hand I give away my crown." 

After his deposition Richard was confined in Pontefract Castle, 
Yorkshire, where he found, like his unfortunate ancestor, Edward II 
(§ 285), " that in the case of princes there is but a step from the 
prison to the grave." His death did not take place, however, until 
after Henry's accession.^ 

310. Summary. — Richard II's reign comprised : — 

I. The peasant revolt under Wat Tyler, which led eventually 
to the emancipation of the villeins, or serfs. 

2." Wycliffe's reformation movement; his translation of the 
Latin Bible, with the rise of the Lollards. 

3. The publication of Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," the first 
great English poem. 

4. The deposition of the King, and the transfer of the crown 
by Parliament to Henry, Duke of Lancaster. 

1 Richard II, Act IV, Scene i. The balm was the sacred oil used in anointing the 
King at his coronation. 

2 Henry of Lancaster was the son of John of Gaunt, who was the fourth son of 
Edward III ; but there were descendants of that king's third son (Lionel, Duke of 
Clarence) living, who, of course, had a prior claim, as the following table shows. 

Edward III 
[Direct descendant of Henry III] 



Edward, the 


William, d. in 


Lionel, Duke 


John of Gaunt, 


Edmund, 


Black Prince 
1 


childhood 


of Clarence 
1 


Duke of Lancaster 


Duke of 
York 


Richard II 




Philippa, m. 
Edmund Morti- 
mer 
1 


Henry Bolingbroke, 

Duke of Lancaster, 

afterward 

Henry IV 





Roger Mortimer, 
d. 1398-1399 

Edmund Mortimer 

{heir presumptive to 

the crown after 

Richard II) 

This disregard of the strict order of succession furnished a pretext for the Civil 

Wars of the Roses, which broke out sixty years later. 



142 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 154-1399 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE ANGEVIN, OR PLANTAGENET, 
PERIOD (1154-1399) 

I. GOVERNMENT. IL RELIGION. III. MILITARY AFFAIRS.— 

IV. — LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL IN- 
DUSTRY AND COMMERCE. VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, 

AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT 

311. Judicial Reforms. — In 1 164 Henry II undertook, by a series 
of statutes called the Constitutions of Clarendon, to bring the Church 
under the common law of the land, but was only temporarily suc- 
cessful. By subsequent statutes he reorganized the administration 
of justice, and laid the foundation of trial by jury. 

312. Town Charters. — Under Richard I many towns secured 
charters giving them the control of their own affairs in great measure. 
In this way municipal self-government arose, and a prosperous and 
intelligent class of merchants and artisans grew up who eventually 
obtained important political influence in the management of national 
affairs. 

313. The Great, or National, Charter. — This pledge, extorted from 
King John in 121 5, put a check to the arbitrary power of the sover- 
eign, and guaranteed the rights of all classes, from the serf and 
the townsman to the bishop and baron (§ 251). It consisted origi- 
nally of sixty-three articles, founded mainly on the first royal charter 
(that of Henry I), given in iioo. (See § 185, and note.) 

It was not a statement of principles, but a series of specific reme- 
dies for specific abuses, which may be summarized as follows : — 

1 . The Church to be free from royal interference, especially in the 
election of bishops. 

2. No taxes except the regular feudal dues (see § 200) to be levied, 
except by the consent of the National Council. 

3. The Court of Common Pleas (see § 197, note), not to follow 
the King, but remain stationary at Westminster. Justice to be neither 
sold, denied, nor delayed. No man to be imprisoned, outlawed, pun- 
ished, or otherwise molested, save by the judgment of his equals 
the law of the land. The necessary implements of all freemen, anc 
the farming- tools of villeins or serfs (§ 160), to be exempt from seizure 

4. Weights and measures to be kept uniform throughout the reah 



1154-1399] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS I43 

All merchants to have the right to enter and leave the kingdom 
without paying exorbitant tolls for the privilege. 

5. Forest laws to be justly enforced. 

6. The charter to be carried out by twenty-five barons together 
with the mayor of London. 

This document marks the beginning of a written constitution, and 
it proved of the highest value henceforth in securing good gov- 
ernment. It was confirmed thirty-seven times by subsequent kings 
and parliaments, the confirmation of this and previous charters by 
Edward I in 1297 being of especial importance. 

314. Rise of the House of Commons. — In 1265, under Henry III, 
through the influence of Simon de Montfort, two representatives from 
each city and borough, or town, together with two knights of the 
shire, or country gentlemen, were summoned to meet with the lords 
and clergy in the National Council, or Parliament. From this time 
the body of the people began to have a voice in making the laws. 

Later in the period the knights of the shire joined the representa- 
tives from the towns in forming a distinct body in Parliament sitting 
by themselves under the name of the House of Commons. They 
obtained the power of levying all taxes, and also of impeaching before 
the House of Lords any government officer guilty of misuse of power. 

315. New Class of Barons. — Under Henry III other influential 
men of the realm, aside from the great landholders and barons by 
tenure, began to be summoned to the King's council. These were 
called "barons by writ." Later (under Richard II), barons were 
created by open letters bearing the royal seal, and were called 
" barons by patent." ^ 

316. Land Laws. — During this period important laws (De Donis, 
or Entail, and Quia Emptores) respecting land were passed, which 
had the effect of keeping estates in families, and also of preventing 
their possessors from evading their feudal duties to the King. At 
the same time a restriction on the acquisition of land by the Church 
(Statute of Mortmain), which was exempt from paying certain feudal 
dues, was also imposed to prevent the King's revenue from being 
diminished. 

1 This is the modern method of raising a subject {e.g., Lord Tennyson) to the 
peerage. It marks the fact that from the thirteenth century the ownership of land 
was no longer considered a necessary condition of nobility ; and that the peerage had 
now developed into the five degrees, which it still maintains, of dukes, marquises, 
earls, viscounts, and barons. 



144 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 154-1399 

RELIGION 

317. Restriction of the Papal Power. — During the Angevin period 
the popes endeavored to introduce the canon law (a body of ordi- 
nances consisting mainly of the decisions of church councils and 
popes) into England, with the view of making it supreme ; but Par- 
liament, at Merton, refused to accept it, saying, " We will not change 
the laws of England." 

The Statute of Mortmain was also passed (see § 278) and other 
measures (Statute of Provisors and Statute of Praemunire) (§ 295), 
which forbade the Pope from taking the appointment of bishops 
and other ecclesiastics out of the hands of the clergy ; and which 
prohibited any appeal from the king's court to the papal court. 
Furthermore, many hundreds of parishes, formerly filled by foreigners 
who could not speak EngHsh, were now given to native priests, and 
the sending of money out of the country to support foreign ecclesi- 
astics was in great measure stopped. 

During the crusades two religious military orders had been estab- 
lished, called the Knights Hospitallers and the Knights Templars. 
The object of the former was, originally, to provide entertainment for 
pilgrims going to Jerusalem ; that of the latter, to protect them. Both 
had extensive possessions in England. In 13 12 the order of Tem- 
plars was broken up on a charge of heresy and evil life, and their 
property in England given to the Knights Hospitallers, who were also 
called Knights of St. John. 

318. Reform. — The Mendicant Friars began a reformatory move- 
ment in the Church and accomplished much good. This was followed 
by Wycliffe's attack on religious abuses, by his translation of the 
Bible, with the revival carried on by the " Poor Priests," and by the 
rise of the Lollards, who were eventually punished by the passage of 
severe laws, partly on the ground of their heretical opinions, and 
partly because they became in a measure identified with socialistic 
and communistic efforts to destroy rank and equalize property. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS 

319. Scutage. — By a tax called scutage, or shield-money, levied on 
all knights who refused to serve the King in foreign wars, Henry II 
obtained the means to hire soldiers. By a law reviving the national 
militia, composed of freemen below the rank of knights, the King made 



1 1 54-1399] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 1 45 

himself in great measure independent of the barons, with respect to 
raising troops. 

320. Armor ; Heraldry. — The linked or mail armor now began to 
be superseded by that made of pieces of steel joined together so as to 
fit the body. This, when it was finally perfected, was called plate 
armor, and was both heavier and stronger than mail. 

With the introduction of plate armor and the closed helmet it 
became the custom for each knight to wear a device, called a crest, 
on his helmet, and also to have one called a coat of arms (because 
originally worn on a loose coat over the armor). 

This served to distinguish him from others, and was of practical 
use not only to the followers of a great lord, who thus knew him at a 
glance, but it served in time of battle to prevent the confusion of 
friend and foe. Eventually, coats of arms became hereditary, and 
the descent, and to some extent the history, of a family can be traced 
by them. In this way heraldry serves as a help to the knowledge of 
men and events. 

321. Chivalry; Tournaments. — The profession of arms was regu- 
lated by certain rules, by which each knight solemnly bound himself 
to serve the cause of religion and the king, and to be true, brave, 
and courteous to those of his own rank, to protect ladies (women 
of gentle birth), and succor all persons in distress. Under Edward III 
chivalry reached its culmination and began to dechne. 

One of the grotesque features of the attack on France was an expe- 
dition of English knights with one eye bandaged ; this half-blind 
company having vowed to partially renounce their sight until they did 
some glorious deed. The chief amusement of the nobles and knights 
was the Tournament, a mock combat fought on horseback, in full 
armor, which sometimes ended in a real battle. At these entertain- 
ments a lady was chosen queen, who gave prizes to the victors. 

322. The Use of the Long-Bow ; Introduction of Cannon ; Wars. — 
The common weapon of the yeomen, or foot-soldiers, was the long- 
bow. It was made of yew-tree wood, and was of the height of the 
user. Armed with this weapon, the English soldiers proved them- 
selves irresistible in the French wars, the French having no native 
archers of any account. 

Roger Bacon is supposed to have known the properties of gunpow- 
der as early as 1250, but no practical use was made of the discovery 
until the battle of Crecy, 1346, when a few very small cannon are said 



146 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 154-1399 

to have been employed by the English against the enemy's cavalry. 
Later, they were used to throw heavy stones in besieging castles. 
Still later, rude hand-guns came slowly into use. From this period 
kings gradually began to realize the full meaning of the harmless- 
looking black grains, with whose flash and noise the Oxford monk 
had amused himself. 

The chief wars of the time were the contests between the kings 
and the barons, Richard I's crusade, John's war with France, result- 
ing in the loss of Normandy, Edward I's conquest of Wales and 
temporary subjugation of Scotland, and the beginning of the Hundred 
Years' War with France under Edward III. 

The navy of this period was made up of small, one-masted vessels, 
seldom carrying more than a hundred and fifty fighting men. As the 
mariner's compass had now come into general use, these vessels 
could, if occasion required, make voyages of considerable length. 

LEARNING, LITERATURE, AND ART 

323. Education. — In 1264 Walter de Merton founded the first 
college at Oxford, an institution which has ever since borne his name, 
and which really originated the English college system. During the 
reign of Edward III, William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, 
gave a decided impulse to higher education by the establishment, at 
his own expense, of Winchester College, the first great public school 
founded in England. Later, he built and endowed New College at 
Oxford to supplement it. 

In Merton's and Wykeham's institutions young men of small 
means were instructed, and in great measure supported, without 
charge. They were brought together under one roof, required to con- 
form to proper discipline, and taught by the best teachers of the day. 
In this way a general feeling of emulation was roused, and at the 
same time a fraternal spirit cultivated which had a strong influ- 
ence in favor of a broader and deeper intellectual culture than the 
monastic schools at Oxford and elsewhere had encouraged. 

324. Literature. — The most prominent historical work was that 
by Matthew Paris, a monk of St. Alban's, written in Latin, based 
largely on earlier chronicles, and covering the period from the 
Norman Conquest, 1066, to his death, in 1259. It is a work of 
much value, and was continued by writers of the same abbey. 

The first English prose work was a volume of travels by Sir John 



1 1 54-1399] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTA GENETS 1 47 

Mandeville, dedicated to Edward III. It was followed by Wycliffe's 
translation of the Bible into English from the Latin version, and by 
Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," the first great English poem. 

325. Architecture. — Edward I and his successors began to build 
structures combining the palace with the stronghold.^ Conway and 
Caernarvon Castles in Wales, Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, and a 
great part of Windsor Castle on the Thames, twenty-three miles west 
of London, are magnificent examples, the last still being occupied as 
a royal residence. 

In churches, the massive architecture of the Normans, with its 
heavy columns and round arches, was followed by Early English, or 
the first period of the Gothic, with pointed arches, slender, clustered, 
columns and tapering spires, like that of Salisbury Cathedral. 

Later, the Decorated style was adopted. It was characterized by 
broader windows, highly ornamented to correspond with the elaborate 
decoration within, which gave this style its name, which is seen to 
advantage in Exeter Cathedral, York Minster, and Merton College 
Chapel. 

GENERAL INDUSTRY 

326. Fairs ; Guilds. — The domestic trade of the country was 
largely carried on during this period by great fairs held at stated 
times by royal license. Bunyan, in " Pilgrim's Progress," gives a vivid 
picture of one of these centres of trade and dissipation, under the 
name of " Vanity Fair." Though it represents the great fair of 
Sturbridge, near Cambridge, as he saw it in the seventeenth century, 
yet it undoubtedly describes similar gatherings in the time of the 
Plantagenets. 

In all large towns the merchants had formed associations for 
mutual protection and the advancement of trade, called merchant- 
guilds. Artisans now instituted similar societies, under the name of 
craft-guilds. For a long time the merchant-guilds endeavored to shut 
out the craft-guilds, the men, as they said, " with dirty hands and blue 
nails," from having any part in the government of the towns. But 
eventually the latter got their full share, and in some cases, as in Lon- 
don, became the more influential party of the two. In London they 
still survive under the name of the " City Companies." 

1 The characteristic features of the Edwardian castles are double surrounding 
walls, with numerous protecting towers, and the omission of the square Norman 
keep. 



148 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 154-1399 

327. The Wool Trade. — Under Edward III a flourishing trade in 
wool grew up between England and Flanders. The manufacture of 
fine woollen goods was also greatly extended in England. All com- 
merce at this period was limited to certain market towns called 
" staples." 

To these places material and goods for export had to be carried in 
order that they might pay duty to the Government before leaving the 
country. Imports also paid duties. If an Englishman carried goods 
abroad and sold them in the open market without first paying a tax 
to the Crown, he was liable to the punishment of death. 

328. The Great Strike. — The scarcity of laborers caused by the 
ravages of the Black Death caused a general strike for higher wages 
on the part of free workingmen, and also induced thousands of vil- 
leins to run away from their masters, in order to get work on their own 
account. The general uprising which a heavy poll-tax caused among 
the laboring class, though suppressed at the time, led to the ultimate 
emancipation of the villeins, by a gradual process extending through 
many generations. 

MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 

329. Dress ; Furniture. — During most of this period great luxury 
in dress prevailed among the rich and noble. Silks, velvets, scarlet 
cloth and cloth of gold were worn by both men and women. At one 
time the lords and gallants at court wore shoes with points curled up 
like rams' horns and fastened to the knee with silver chains. 

Attempts were made by the Government to abolish this and other 
ridiculous fashions, and also to regulate the cost of dress according 
to the rank and means of the wearer ; but the effort met with small 
success. Even the rich at this time had but little furniture in their 
houses, and chairs were almost unknown. The floors of houses 
were strewn with rushes, which, as they were rarely changed, became 
horribly filthy, and were a prolific cause of sickness. 

330. The Streets ; Amusements ; Profanity. — The streets of Lon- 
don and other cities were rarely more than twelve or fifteen feet wide. 
They were neither paved nor lighted. Pools of stagnant water and 
heaps of refuse abounded. There was no sewerage. The only 
scavengers were the crows. The houses were of timber and plaster, 
with projecting stories, and destructive fires were common. The chief 
amusements were hunting and hawking, contests at archery, and 



1 1 54-1399] THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS 1 49 

tournaments. Plays were acted by amateur companies on stages on 
wheels, which could be moved from street to street. 

The subjects continued to be drawn in large measure from the 
Bible and from legends of the saints. They served to instruct men in 
Scripture history, in an age when few could read. The instruction 
was not, however, always taken to heart, as profane swearing was so 
common that an Englishman was called on the continent by his 
favorite oath, which the French regarded as a sort of national name 
before that of " John Bull " came into use. 



ISO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1399-1413 



SECTION VII 

' God's most dreaded instrument, 
In working out a pure intent, 
Is man — arrayed for mutual slaughter." 

Wordsworth. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 

BARON against BARON 

The Houses of Lancaster and York (1399-1485) 

House of Lancaster (the Red Rose). House of York (the White Rose). 
Henry IV, 1399-1413. Edward IV, 1461-1483. 

Henry V, 1413-1422. t Edward V, 1483. 

*Henry VI, 1422-1471. Richard III, 1483-1485. 

331. Henry IV' s Accession. — Richard II left no children. 
The nearest heir to the kingdom by right of birth was the boy 
Edmund Mortimer, a descendant of Richard's uncle Lionel, Duke 
of Clarence.^ Henry ignored Mortimer's claim, and standing before 
Richard's empty throne in Westminster Hall, boldly demanded 
the crown for himself.^ 

The nation had suffered so much from the misgovernment of 
those who had ruled during the minority of Richard, that they 

* Henry VI, deposed 1461 ; reinstated for a short time in 1470. 
t Edward V, never crowned. 

1 See genealogical table, note, § 309. 

2 " In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I, Henry of Lancaster, chal- 
lenge this realm of England and the Crown, with all the members and the appurte- 
nances, as that I am descended by right line of blood, coming from the good King 
Henry III, and through that right that God of his grace hath sent me, with help of 
kin and of all my friends to recover it, the which realm was in point to be undone 
by default of government and undoing of the good laws." 



1399-1413] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM I51 

wanted no more boy kings. Parliament, therefore, set aside the 
direct line of descent and accepted Henry. 

332. Conspiracy in Favor of Richard. — The new King had 
hardly seated himself on the throne when a conspiracy was dis- 
covered, having for its object the release and restoration of 
Richard, still a prisoner in Pontefract Castle (§ 309). The plot 
was easily crushed. A month later Richard was found dead. 

Henry had his body brought up to London and exposed to 
public view in St. Paul's Cathedral, in order that not only the 
people, but all would-be conspirators might now see that Richard's 
hands could never again wield the sceptre. 

There was, however, one man at least who refused to be con- 
vinced. -.Owen Glendower, a Welshman, whom the late King had 
befriended, declared that Richard was still living, and that the 
corpse exhibited was not his body. Glendower prepared to main- 
tain his behef by arms. King Henry mustered a force with the 
intention of invading Wales and crushing the rebel on his own 
ground ; but a succession of terrible tempests ensued. 

The English soldiers got the idea that Glendower raised these 
storms, for as an old chronicle declares : " Through art magike 
he [Glendower] caused such foule weather of winds, tempest, 
raine, snow, and haile to be raised for the annoiance of the King's 
armie, that the like had not beene heard of." -^ For this reason 
the troops became disheartened, and the King was obHged to 
postpone the expedition. 

333. Revolt of the Percies; Parliament's Bold Step (1407). — 
The powerful Percy family had been active in helping Henry to 
obtain the throne,^ and had spent large sums in defending the 
North against invasions from Scotland.^ They expected a royal 
reward for these services, and were sorely disappointed because 
they did not get it. As young Henry Percy said of the King : — 

" My father, and my uncle, and myself. 
Did give him that same royalty he wears ; 

1 Holinshed's Chronicle, 2 Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, with Henry- 

Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and his son, Sir Henry Percy, or " Hotspur." 
See § 309. 3 See the Ballad of Chevy Chase. 



152 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1399-1413 

And, — when he was not six-and-twenty strong, 
Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low, 
A poor, unminded outlaw sneaking home, — 
My father gave him welcome to the shore : 

Swore him assistance and perform'd it too." 1 

But the truth is, Henry had little to give except promises. Parlia- 
ment voted money cautiously, limiting its supplies to specific pur- 
poses. Men of wealth, feeling anxious about the issue of the 
King's usurpation, — for such many regarded it, — were afraid to 
lend him what he required. Finally (1407) the House of Com- 
mons took a bold and decisive step. It demanded and obtained 
the exclusive right of making all grants of money which the King 
asked for. This practically gave the people the control of the 
nation's purse.^ Besides being held in 'check by ParHament, the 
King was hampered by a council whose advice he had pledged 
himself to follow. For these reasons Henry's position was in 
every way precarious. 

He had no clear title to the throne, and he had no means to 
buy miHtary support. In addition to these difficulties, Henry had 
made an enemy of Sir Henry Percy. He had refused to ransom 
his brother-in-law, a Mortimer,^ whom Glendower had captured, 
but whom the King wished well out of the way with all others of 
that name. 

Young Percy proved a dangerous foe. His hot temper and 
impetuous daring had got for him the title of " the Hotspur of the 
North." He was so fond of fighting that Shakespeare speaks of 
him as " he that kills me some six or seven dozen of Scots at a 
breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife, Fie upon this 
quiet life! I want workT ^ This "fire-eater," with his father, 
his uncle, the Earl of Worcester, and the Scotch Earl of Douglas, 

1 Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, Act IV, Scene 3. 

2 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xii, § 13. 

3 Sir Edmund Mortimer : he was uncle to the Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, 
who was heir to the crown. See Bailey's Succession to the EngUsh Crown. 

4 Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, Act II, Scene 4. 



i 



1399-1413] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 1 53 

and, last of all, Glendower, now formed an alliance to force Henry 
to give up the throne. 

334. Battle of Shrewsbury (1403). — At Shrewsbury, on the 
edge of Wales, the armies of the King and of the revolutionists 
met. A number of Henry's enemies had sworn to single him out 
in battle. The plot was divulged, and it is said thirteen knights 
arrayed themselves in armor resembling the King's in order to 
mislead the assailants. The whole thirteen perished on that 
bloody field, where fat Sir John Falstaff vowed he fought on 
Henry's behalf "a long hour by Shrewsbury clock." ^ 

The insurgents were utterly defeated. Douglas was taken pris- 
oner, "Hotspur" was killed, and several of his companions were 
beheaded after the battle. But new insurrections arose, and the 
country was far from enjoying any permanent peace. 

335. Persecution of the Lollards ; Statute of Heresy ; the First 
Martyr (1407). — Thus far Henry had spent much time in crush- 
ing rebels, but he had also given part of it to burning heretics. 
To gain the favor of the clergy, and so render his throne more 
secure, the King favored the passage of a Statute of Heresy. The 
lords and bishops passed such a law (to which the House of 
Commons seems to have assented).^ It punished the Lollards 
(§ 307) and others who dissented from the doctrines of Rome 
with death. 

William Sawtrey, a London clergyman, was the first victim 
under the new law (1401). He had declared that he would not 
worship " the cross on which Christ suffered, but only Christ him- 
self who had suffered on the cross." He had also openly denied 
the doctrine of transubstantiation, which teaches that the sacra- 
mental bread is miraculously changed into the actual body of the 
Saviour. For these and minor heresies he was burned at Smith- 
field, in London, in the presence of a great multitude. 

Some years later a second martyrdom took place. But as the 
English people would not allow torture to be used in the case of 
the Knights Templars in the reign of Edward H (§ 317), so they 

1 Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, Act V, Scene 4. 

2 See Stubbs' Constitutional History of England, III, 32. 



154 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1399-1413 

never favored the idea that by committing the body to the flames 
error could thereby be burned out of the soul. 

The Lollards, indeed, were still cast into prison, as some of the 
extreme and communistic part of them doubtless deserved to be, 
but we hear of no more being put to cruel deaths during Henry's 
reign, thou^ later, the utmost rigor of the law was again to some 
extent enforced. 

336. Henry's Last Days. — Toward the close of his life the 
King seems to have thought of reviving the crusades for the con- 
quest of Jerusalem, where, according to tradition, an old predic- 
tion declared that he should die. But his Jerusalem was nearer 
than that of Palestine. While praying at the tomb of Edward the 
Confessor in Westminster Abbey, he was seized with mortal illness. 
His attendants carried him into a room near by. 

When he recovered consciousness, and inquired where he was, 
he was told that the apartment was called the Jerusalem Chamber. 
" Praise be to God," he exclaimed, " then here I die ! " There 
he breathed his last, saying to his son, young Prince Henry : — 

" God knows, my son, 
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways, 
I met this crown ; and I myself know well 
How troublesome it sat upon my head ; 
To thee it shall descend with better quiet. 
Better opinion, better confirmation ; 
For all the soil of the achievement 1 goes 
With me into the earth." 

337. Summary. — At the outset of his reign Parliament showed 
its power by changing the succession and making Henry King 
instead of young Edmund Mortimer, the direct hereditary heir to 
the crown. Though successful in crushing rebellion, Henry was 
obliged to submit to the guidance of a council. 

Furthermore, he was made more entirely dependent on Parlia- 
ment, especially in the matter of suppHes, than any previous king, 
for the House of Commons now got and held control of the 

1 " Soil of the achievement " : stain or blame by which the crown was won. 
Henry IV, Part II, Act IV, Scene 4. 



1399-1413] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 155 

nation's purse. For the first time in English history heresy was 
made punishable by death ; yet such was the restraining influence 
of the people, that but two executions took place. 

HENRY V— 141 3-1422 

338. Lollard Outbreak at Henry's Accession. — Henry's youth 
had been wild and dissolute, but the weight of the crown sobered 
him. He cast off poor old Jack Falstaif and his other roistering 
companions, and began his new duties in earnest. 

Sir John Oldcastle, or Lord Cobham, was at this time the most 
influential man among the Lollards (§§ 307, 335). He was 
brought to trial and convicted of heresy. The penalty was death ; 
but the King granted him a respite, in the hope that he might 
recant. Oldcastle managed to escape from prison (14 14). 

Immediately after, a conspiracy was detected among the Lol- 
lards for seizing the government, destroying the chief monasteries 
in and about London, and raising Oldcastle to power. Henry 
attacked the rebels unawares, killed many, and took a large num- 
ber of prisoners, who were executed on a double charge of heresy 
and treason. Several years afterwards Oldcastle was burned as 
a heretic. 

339. Report that Richard II was alive. — A strange report now 
began to circulate. It was said that Richard II (§ 309) had been 
seen in Scotland, and that he was preparing to claim the throne 
which Henry's father had taken from him. To silence this 
seditious rumor, the King exhumed Richard's body from its 
grave in the little village of Langley, Hertfordshire. The ghastly 
remains were propped up in a chair of state so that all might 
see them. 

In this manner the King and his court escorted the corpse in 
solemn procession to Westminster Abbey, where it was reinterred 
among the tombs of the English sovereigns. With it he buried 
once for all the troublesome falsehood which had kept up insurrec- 
tion, and had made the deposed King more feared after death than 
he had ever been during life. 



156 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1413-1422 

340. War with France (1415). — To divert the attention of the 
nation from dangerous home questions likely to cause fresh revolts, 
Henry now determined to act on his father's dying counsel and 
pick a foreign quarrel. The old grudge against France, which 
began with the feuds of Duke William of Normandy before he 
conquered England, made a war with that country always popular. 
At this period the French were divided into fierce parties who 
hated each other even more, if possible, than they hated the 
EngHsh. This, of course, greatly increased the chances of Henry's 
success, as he might form an alliance with one of these factions. 

The King believed it a good opportunity to get three things he 
wanted, — a wife, a fortune, and the French crown. The King 
of France and his most powerful rival, the Duke of Burgundy, 
had each a daughter. To make sure of one of them, Henry 
secretly proposed to both. After long and fruitless negotiations 
the French King declined to grant the enormous dowry which 
the EngUsh King demanded. The latter gladly interpreted this 
refusal as equivalent to a declaration of war. 

341. Battle of Agincourt^ (1415). — Henry set to work with 
vigor, raised an army, and invaded France. He besieged Har- 
fieur, near the mouth of the Seine, and took it ; but his army 
had suffered so much from sickness that, after leaving a garrison 
in the place, he resolved to move north, to Calais, and await 
reinforcements. 

After a long and perilous march he reached a little village 
about midway between Crecy and Calais. There he encountered 
the enemy in great force. Both sides prepared for battle. The 
French had fifty thousand troops to Henry's seven or eight 
thousand ; but the latter had that determination which wins vic- 
tories. He said to one of his nobles who regretted that he had 

not a larger force : — 

" No, my fair cousin ; 

If we are marked to die, we are enough 
To do our country loss ; and if we live, 
The fewer men, the greater share of honor." 2 

1 Agincourt (Ah'zhan'koor^). See Map No. 10, facing page 130. 

2 Henry V, Act IV, Scene 3. 



1413-1422] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 1 57 

A heavy rain had fallen during the night, and the ploughed 
land over which the French must cross was so wet and miry that 
their heavily armed horsemen sank deep at every step. The 
English bowmen, on the other hand, being on foot, could move 
with ease. Henry ordered every archer to drive a stake, sharp- 
ened at both ends, into the ground before him. This was a sub- 
stitute for the modern bayonet, and presented an almost impassable 
barrier to the French cavalry. 

As at Crecy and Poitiers, the English bowmen gained the day 
(§§ 290, 293). The sharp stakes stopped the enemy's horses, 
and the blinding showers of arrows threw the splendidly armed 
knights into wild confusion. With a ringing cheer Henry's troops 
rushedJbrward. 

" When down their bows they threw, 
And forth their swords they drew, 
And on the French they flew : 

No man was tardy. 
Arms from the shoulder sent ; 
Scalps to the teeth they rent; 
Down the French peasants, went : 

These were men hardy." ^ 

When the fight was over, the King asked, " What is the name 
of that castle yonder?" He was told it was called Agincourt. 
*'Then," said he, "from henceforth this shall be known as the 
battle of Agincourt." 

342. Treaty of Troyes,^ 1420 ; Henry's Death. — Henry went 
back in triumph to England. Two years later, he again invaded 
France. His victorious course continued. By the Treaty of 
Troyes (1420), he gained all that he had planned to get. He 
obtained large sums of money, the French princess Catharine in 
marriage, and the promise of the crown of France on the death 
of her father, Charles VI, who was then insane and feeble. 
Meantime Henry was to govern the kingdom as regent. 

1 These vigorous lines, from Drayton's Ballad of Agincourt, if not:. quite true 
to the letter of history (since it is doubtful whether the French peasants were on the 
field), are wholly true to its spirit. 

2 Troyes (Trwa). 



158 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLlSM HISTORY [1413-1422 

Henry returned to England with the bride he had won by the 
sword, but he was soon recalled to France by a revolt against his 
power. He died there, leaving an infant son, Henry. Two months 
afterward Charles VI died, so that by the terms of the treaty 
Henry's son now inherited the French crown. 

343. Summary. — The one great event with which Henry Vs 
name is connected is the conquest of France. It was hailed at 
the time as a glorious achievement. In honor of it his tomb in 
Westminster Abbey was surmounted by a statue of the King having 
a head of soKd silver. Eventually the head was stolen and never 
recovered ; the wooden statue still remains. The theft was typical 
of Henry's short-lived victories abroad, for all the territory he had 
gained was soon destined to be hopelessly lost. 

HENRY VI (House of Lancaster, Red Rose) — 1422-1471 ^ 

344. Accession of Henry ; Renewal of the French War. — The 

heir to all the vast dominions left by Henry V was proclaimed 
King of England and France when in his cradle, and crowned, 
while still a child, first at Westminster and then at Paris. 

But the accession to the French possessions was merely an 
empty form, for as the son of the late Charles VI of France 
refused to abide by the Treaty of Troyes (§ 342) and give up 
the throne, war again broke out. 

345. Siege of Orleans. ^ — The Duke of Bedford ^ fought vigor- 
ously in Henry's behalf. In five years the English had got pos- 
session of most of the country north of the Loire. They now 
determined to make an effort to drive the French Prince south 
of that river. To accomplish this they must take the strongly 
fortified town of Orleans, which was situated on its banks. 

Forts were accordingly built around the place, and cannon 
planted to batter down its walls. Six months later, so much j 

1 Dethroned 1461, restored for a few months in 1470, died in the Tower of 
London, 1*471. 

2 Orleans (Or'la-on). See Map No. 8, facing page 88. 

3 During Henry's minority, John, Duke of Bedford, was Protector of the realm. 
When absent in France, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucest^ acted for him. 



1422-1461] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 1 59 

progress had been made in the siege, that it was plain the city 
could not hold out much longer. The fortunes of France seemed 
to depend on the fate of Orleans. If it fell, they would go with it. 

346. Joan of. Arc^ (1429-1431). — At this juncture, Joan of 
Arc, a peasant girl of eighteen, came forward to inspire her 
despairing countrymen with fresh courage. She believed that 
Heaven had called her to drive the English from the land. The 
troops rallied round her. Clad in white armor, mounted on a 
white war-horse, she led the troops from victory to victory, until 
she saw Prince Charles triumphantly crowned in the Cathedral of 
Rheims.^ 

Her fortunes soon changed. Her own people basely abandoned 
her. The unworthy King Charles made no attempt to protect 
the "Maid of Orleans," and she fell into the hands of the infuri- 
ated English, who believed she was in league with the devil. In 
accordance with this behef Joan was tried for witchcraft and 
heresy at Rouen, and sentenced to the flames. She died (1431) 
as bravely as she had lived, saying in her last agonies that her 
celestial voices had not deceived her, and that through them she 
had saved France. 

" God forgive us," exclaimed one of Henry's courtiers who was 
present, "we are lost ! We have burned a saint ! " It was the 
truth j and from the martyred girl's ashes a new spirit seemed to 
go forth to bless her ungrateful country. The heart of France 
was touched. The people rose against their invaders. 

Before Henry VI reached his thirtieth year the Hundred Years' 
War with France, which Edward HI had begun (§ 289), was 
ended, and England had lost all of her possessions on the con- 
tinent, except a bare foothold at Calais. 

347. Henry VI's Character and Marriage. — When Henry 
became of age he proved to be but the shadow of a king. His 
health and character were alike feeble. At twenty-five he mar- 
ried the beautiful and unfortunate Margaret of Anjou, who was 

1 The name given by the English to Jeanne d'Arc, or Dare. Later, the French 
called her La Pucelle, "The Maid"; or La Pucelle d'Orleans, "The Maid of 
Orleans.". 2 Rheims (Ranz), northeast of Paris. See Map No. 10, facing page 130, 



l60 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1422-1461 

by far the better man of the two. When years of disaster came, 
this dauntless " queen of tears " headed councils, led arraiies, and 
ruled both King and kingdom. 

348. Poverty of the Crown and Wealth of the Nobles. — One 
cause of the weakness of the Government was its poverty. The 
revenues of the Crown had been greatly diminished by gifts and 
grants to favorites. The King was obliged to pawn his jewels 
and the silver plate from his table to pay his wedding expenses ; 
and it is said on high authority^ that the royal couple were 
sometimes in actual want of a dinner. 

On the other hand, the Earl of Warwick and other great lords 
had made fortunes out of the French wars,^ and lived in regal 
splendor. The earl, it is said, had at his different castles and his 
city mansion in London upwards of thirty thousand men in his 
service. Their livery, or uniform, a bright red jacket with the 
Warwick arms, a bear erect holding a ragged staff, embroidered 
on it in white, was seen, known, and feared throughout the 
country. 

Backed by such forces it was easy for the earl and other power- 
ful lords to overawe kings, parliaments, and courts. Between 
these heads of the great houses' quarrels were constantly breaking 
out. The safety of the people was endangered by these feuds, 
which became more and more violent, and often ended in blood- 
shed and murder. 

349. Disfranchisement of the Common People (1430). — With 
the growth of power on the part of the nobles, there was also 
imposed for the first time a restriction on the right of the people 
to vote for members of Parliament. Up to this period all free- 
men might take part in the election of representatives chosen by 
the counties to sit in the House of Commons. 

A law was now passed forbidding any one to vote at these elec- 
tions unless he was a resident of the county and possessed of 

1 Fortescue, on the Governance of England (Plummer). 

2 First, by furnishing troops to the Government, the feudal system having now 
so far decayed that many soldiers had to be hired ; secondly, by the plunder of French 
cities J thirdly, by ransoms obtained from noblemen taken prisoners. 



1422-1461] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 161 

landed property yielding an annual income of forty shillings 
(^200).^ Subsequently it was further enacted that no county 
candidate should be eligible unless he was a man of means and 
social standing. 

These two measures were blows against the free self-government 
of the nation, since their manifest tendency was to make the House 
of Commons represent the property rather than the people of the 
country (§371). (See, too, Summary of Constitutional History in 
the Appendix, page xiii, § 14.) 

350. Cade's Rebellion (1450). — A formidable rebellion broke 
out in Kent (1450), then, as now, one of the most independent 
and democratic counties in England. The leader was Jack Cade, 
who called himself by the popular name of Mortimer (§ 309, 
note I, and § 331). He claimed to be cousin to Richard, Duke 
of York, a nephew of that Edmund Mortimer, now dead, whom 
Henry IV had unjustly deprived of his succession to the Crown. 

Cade, who was a mere adventurer, was quite likely used as a 
tool by plotters much higher than himself. By putting him for- 
ward they could judge whether the country was ready for a revo- 
lution and change of sovereigns. 

Wat Tyler's rebellion, seventy years before (§ 303), was almost 
purely social in its character, having for its object the emancipa- 
tion of the enslaved laboring classes. Cade's insurrection was, 
on the contrary, almost wholly pohtical. His chief complaint 
was that the people were not allowed their free choice in the 
election of representatives, but were forced by the nobihty to 
choose candidates they did not want. 

Other grievances for which reform was demanded were exces- 
sive taxation and the rapacity of the evil counsellors who con- 
trolled the King. 

Cade entered London with a body of twenty thousand men. 
He took formal possession of the place by striking his sword on 
London Stone, — a Roman monument still standing, which then 

1 The income required by the statute was forty shillings, which, says Freeman, 
we may fairly call forty pounds of our present money. See Freeman's Growth of 
the English Constitution, page 97. 



l62 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1422-1461 

marked the centre of the ancient city, — saying, as Shakespeare 
reports him, " Now is Mortimer lord of this city." ^ 

After three days of riot and the murder of the King's treasurer, 
the rebellion came to an end through a general pardon. Cade, 
however, endeavored to raise a new insurrection in the south, but 
was shortly after captured, and died of his wounds. 

351. Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). — The real significance 
of Cade's insurrection is that it showed the widespread feeling 
of discontent caused by misgovernment, and that it served as an 
introduction to the long and dreary period of civil strife known as 
the Wars of the Roses. 

So long as the English nobles had France for a fighting ground, 
French cities to plunder, and French captives to hold for heavy 
ransoms, they were content to let matters go on quietly at home. 
But that day was over. Through the bad management, if not 
through the positive treachery of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, the 
French conquests had been lost, a weak king, at times insane, sat 
on the English throne, while Richard, Duke of York, a really able 
man and a descendant of the Mortimers (see table on page 163), 
was, as many beheved, unlawfully excluded from it. 

This fact in itself would have furnished a plausible pretext for 
hostilities, even as far back as Cade's rising. But the birth of a 
son^ to Henry (1453) probably gave the signal for the outbreak, 
since it cut off all hopes which Richard's friends may have had of 
his peaceful succession. 

1 " Now is Mortimer lord of this city, and here, sitting upon London Stone, I 
charge and command that, at the city's cost, this conduit runs nothing but claret 
wine this first year of our reign ; and now it shall be treason for any man to call 
me other than Lord Mortimer." — Henry F/, Part II, Act IV, Scene 6. 

It is worthy of remark that here, as elsewhere in his historical plays, the great 
dramatist expresses little, if any, sympathy with the cause of the people. In King 
John he does not mention the Great Charter, in Richard II he passes over Wat 
Tyler without a word, while in Henry VI he mentions Cade only to ridicule him 
and his movement. The explanation • of this lies, perhaps, in the fact that Shake- 
speare lived in an age when England was threatened by both open and secret enemies. 
The need of his time was a strong, steady hand at the helm ; it was no season for 
reform or change of any sort. This may be the reason why he was silent in regard 
to democratic risings and demands in the past. 

2 Prince Edward. See genealogical table on page 163, under " Henry VI." 



[422-1461] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 



163 



352. The Scene in the Temple Garden. — Shakespeare repre- 
sents the smouldering feud between the rival houses of Lancaster 
and York (both of whom it should be remembered were descend- 
ants of Edward III)^ as breaking into an angry quarrel in the 
Temple Garden^ London, when Richard, Duke of York, says : — 

" Let him that is a true-born gentleman, 
And stands upon the honor of his birth, 
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, 
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me." 

To this challenge John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset,^ a descend- 
ant of the house of Lancaster, who has just accused Richard of 
being the dishonored son of a traitor, repHes : — 



1 Table showing the descendants of Edward III, with reference to the claims of 
Lancaster and York to the Crown : — 

Edward III 

I 



I 

Lionel, Duke of 
Clarence (3d son) 

Philippa 

Roger Mortimer 

I 



Edmund Morti- Anne Morti- 
mer (Earl of mer, m. Rich- 
March), d, 1424 ard, Earl of 
Cambridge (s. 
of Edmund, 
Duke of York) 

* Richard, Duke 
of York 



John of Gaunt, Duke of 

Lancaster (4th son) 

I 

Henry IV 

I 
Henry V 

I 
Henry VI 



Edmund, Duke of 
York (15 th son) 

1 I 
t John, Earl Richard, Earl of 
of Somerset Cambridge, m. 
! Anne Morti- 

1 I mf»r 



John, 
Duke 

Prince Edward, of Som 
b. 1453 ; killed erset, 
at battle of d. 1448 
Tewkesbury, 
1471 



Edmund, 
Duke of 
Somerset 



Edward IV (1461-1483) 



t John, Earl of Somerset, was an 
illegitimate half-brother of Henry 
IV's, but was, in 1397, declared 
legitimate by act of Parliament 
and a papal decree. 



* Inherited the title of Duke of York from his father's eldest brother, Edward, Duke of 
York, who died without issue. 

Ricliard's father, the Earl of Cambridge, had forfeited his title and estates by treason ; 
but Parliament had so far limited the sentence that his son was not thereby debarred from 
inheriting his uncle's rank and fortune. 

Richard, Duke of York, now represented the direct hereditaiy line of succession to the 
I crown, while Henry VI and his son represented tliat established by Parliament through 
[ acceptance of Heni-y IV. Compare geneaological table on page 141. 

2 John, Duke of Somerset, died 1448. He was brother of Edmund, Duke of 
I Somerset, who was slain at St. Albans, 1455. 



l64 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1422-1461 

" Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, 
But dare maintain the party of the truth, 
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me." 

The Earl of Warwick rejoins : — 

" This brawl to-day, 
Grown to this faction in the Temple-garden, 
Shall send, between the red rose and the white, 
A thousand souls to death and deadly night." 1 

353. The Real Object of the War. — The war, however, did not 
directly originate in this quarrel, but rather in the strife for power 
between Edmund, Duke of Somerset (John's brother), and Rich- 
ard, Duke of York. Each desired to get the control of the 
Government, though at first neither appears to have openly aimed 
at the Crown. 

During Henry's attack of insanity (1453), Richard was ap- 
pointed Protector of the realm, and shortly afterward the Duke of 
Somerset, the King's particular favorite and chief adviser, was 
cast into prison on the double charge of having culpably lost 
Normandy and embezzled pubHc moneys. 

When Henry recovered (1455), he released Somerset and 
restored him to office. Richard protested, and raising an army 
in the north, marched toward London. He met the royaHst forces 
at St. Albans ; a battle ensued, and Somerset was slain. 

During the next thirty years the war raged with more or less 
fury between the parties of the Red Rose (Lancaster) and the 
White Rose (York). The first maintained that ParHament had the 
right to choose such king as they saw fit, as in Henry IV's case ; 
the second insisted that the succession should be determined by 
strict hereditary descent, as represented in the claim of Richard. 

But beneath the surface the contest was not for principle, but 
for place and spoils. The great nobles, who during the French 
wars (§ 340) had pillaged abroad, now pillaged each other; and 
as England was neither big enough nor rich enough to satisfy the 
greed of all of them, the struggle gradually became a war of 
mutual extermination. 

-•• Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part I, Act. II, Scene 4. 



1422-1461] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 165 

It was, to a certain extent, a sectional war. Eastern England, 
then the wealthiest and most progressive part of the country, 
had strongly supported Wycliffe in his reforms (§ 306). It now 
espoused the side of Richard, Duke of York, who was believed to 
be friendly to religious liberty, while the western counties fought 
for the cause of Lancaster and the Church.^ 

354. The First Battles (1455-1460). — We have already 
seen (§353) that the first blood was shed at St. Albans (1455), 
where the Yorkists, after half an hour's fighting, gained a com- 
plete victory.^ A similar result followed at Bloreheath, Stafford- 
shire (1459). In a third battle, at Northampton,^ the Yorkists 
were again successful (1460). Henry was taken prisoner, and 
Queen Margaret fled with the young Prince Edward to Scotland. 
Richard now demanded the crown. 

Henry answered with unexpected spirit : " My father was king, 
his father also was king. I have worn the crown forty years from 
my cradle ; you have all sworn fealty to me as your sovereign, 
and your fathers did the Kke to my fathers. How, then, can my 
claim be disputed?" After a long controversy, a compromise 
was effected. Henry agreed that if he were left in peaceable 
possession of the throne during his life, Richard or his heirs 
should succeed him. 

355. Battles of Wakefield and Towton (1460-1461). — But 
Queen Margaret refused to see her son. Prince Edward, thus 
tamely set aside. She raised an army and attacked the Yorkists. 
Richard, whose forces were inferior to hers, had entrenched him- 
self in his castle.^ Day after day Margaret went up under the 
walls and dared him to come out. 

At length, stung by her taunts, the duke saUied from his 
stronghold, and the battle of Wakefield was fought (1460). 
Margaret was victorious. Richard was slain, and the Queen, in 
mockery of his claims to sovereignty, cut off his head, decked it 

1 It will be remembered that the persecution of Wycliffe's followers began under 
Henry IV, the first Lancastrian king. See § 335. 

2 For the battle-fields of the Wars of the Roses, see Map No. 11, facing page 174, 

3 Northampton, Northamptonshire. 

4 Sandal Castle, near Wakefield, Yorkshire. Towton, also in Yorkshire. 



l66 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1422-1461 

with a paper crown, and set it up over the chief gate of the city 
of York. Fortune now changed. The next year (1461) the 
Lancastrians were defeated with great slaughter at Towton. The 
light spring snow was crimsoned with the blood of thirty thou- 
sand slain, and the way strewn with corpses for ten miles up to 
the walls of York. 

The Earl of Warwick, henceforth popularly known as " the 
king-maker," now placed Edward, eldest son of the late Duke of 
York, on the throne, with the title of Edward IV (§352, table). 
Henry and Margaret fled to Scotland. The new Government 
summoned them to appear, and as they failed to answer, pro- 
claimed them traitors. 

Four years later, Henry was taken prisoner and sent to the 
Tower of London. He may have been happier there than 
battling for his throne. He was not born to reign, but. rather, 
as Shakespeare makes him say, to lead a shepherd's life, watch- 
ing his flocks, until the peacefully flowing years should — 

*' Bring white hairs unto a quiet grave." ^ 

356. Summary. — The history of the period is one of loss. 
The brilliant French conquests of Henry V slipped from the 
nerveless hands of his son, leaving France practically independ- 
ent. The elective franchise had been restricted. The House 
of Commons had ceased to be democratic even in a moderate 
degree. Its members were all property-holders elected by 
property-holders. Cade's rebellion was the sign of poHtical 
discontent and the forerunner of civil war. 

The contests of the parties of the Red and the White Roses 
drenched England's fair fields with the best blood of her own 
sons. The reign ends with King Henry in prison. Queen Mar- 
garet and Prince Edward fugitives, and the Yorkist, Edward IV, 
placed on the throne by the help of the powerful Earl of Warwick. 

1 See Henry's soliloquy on the field of Towton, beginning, — 

" O God ! methinks it were a happy life 
To be no better than a homely swain." 

Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part III, Act II, Scene 5. 



1461-1483] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 167 



EDWARD IV (House of York, White Rose) — 1461-1483 

357. Continuation of the War ; Barnet ; Death of Henry ; 
Tewkesbury (1471). — During the whole of Edward's reign the 
war went on with varying success, but unvarying ferocity, until at 
last neither side would ask or give quarter. Some years after the 
accession of the new sovereign the Earl of Warwick quarrelled with 
him, thrust him from the throne, and restored Henry VI (§ 355). 

But a few months later, at the battle of Barnet (1471), War- 
wick, who was "the last of the great barons," was killed, and 
Henry, who had been led back to the Tower ^ again, died one of 
those " conveniently sudden deaths " which were then so common. 
- The heroic Queen Margaret (§§ 347, 355), however, would not 
give up the contest in behalf of her son's claim to the crown. 
But fate was against her. A few weeks after the battle of Barnet ^ 
her army was utterly defeated at Tewkesbury (1471), her son 
Edward slain, and the Queen herself taken prisoner. 

She was eventually released on the payment of a large ransom, 
and returned to France, where she died broken-hearted in her 
native Anjou, prophesying that the contest would go on until 
the Red Rose, representing her party, should get a still deeper 
dye from the blood of her enemies.^ 

358. The Introduction of Printing, 1477. — But an event 
was at hand of greater importance than any question of crowns 
or parties, though then none was wise enough to see its real 
significance. William Caxton, a London merchant, had learned 
the new art of printing at Bruges in Flanders. He now returned 
to his native country and set up a small press within the grounds 
of Westminster Abbey. 

There, at the sign of a shield bearing a red pale,^ he advertised 

1 The Tower of London, built by William the Conqueror, as a fortress to over- 
awe the city, became later both a royal palace and a prison of state. It is now used 
as a citadel, armory, and depository for the crown jewels. 

2 Barnet, about eleven miles northwest of London, Hertfordshire. Tewkesbury, 
near Gloucester, Gloucestershire. See Map No. 11, facing page 174. 

3 See Scott's Anne of Geierstein, Chapter XXX. 

* Pale : a perpendicular band on a shield ; such signs were then commonly used 
by the Flemish printers. 



l68 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1461-1483 

his wares as "good chepe." He was not only printer, but trans- 
lator and editor. Edward gave him some royal patronage. He 
paid liberally for work which not long before the clergy in France 
had condemned as a black art emanating from the devil. Many, 
too, of the Enghsh clergy regarded it with no very friendly eye, 
since it threatened to destroy the copying trade, of which the 
monks had well-nigh a monopoly. 

The first printed book which Caxton is known to have pub- 
lished in England was a small volume entitled " The Sayings of 
the Philosophers," 1477.-^ This venture was followed in due 
time by Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," and whatever other 
poetry, history, or classics seemed worthy of preservation; 
making in all nearly a hundred distinct works comprising more 
than eighteen thousand volumes. 

Up to this time a book of any kind was a luxury, laboriously 
"written by the few for the few" ; but from this date literature 
of all sorts was destined to multiply and fill the earth with many 
leaves and some good fruit. 

Caxton's patrons, though few, were choice, and when one of 
them, the Earl of Worcester, was beheaded in the wars, he said 
of him, " The axe did then cut off more learning than was left in 
all the heads of the surviving lords." 

Recently a memorial window has been placed in St. Margaret's 
Church within the abbey grounds, as a tribute to the man who, 
while England was red with slaughter, introduced " the art pre- 
servative of all arts," and preservative of liberty no less^ (§ 374). 

1 " The dictes or sayengis of the philosophres, enprynted by me william Caxton 
at westmestre, the year of our lord MCCCCLxxvii." 

It has no title-page, but ends as above. A copy is preserved in the British 
Museum. The Game and Play of the Chess is supposed by some to have been 
published a year or two earlier, but as the book has neither printer's name, place of 
publication, nor date, the time of its issue remains wholly conjectural. 

2 " Lord ! taught by thee, when Caxton bade 
His silent words forever speak ; 
A grave for tyrants then was made, 

Then crack'd the chain which yet shall break." 

Ebenezer Elliott, Hymn for the Printers' 
Gathering at Shefield^ 1833. 




THE CAXTON MEMORIAL WINDOW (St. Margaret's Church, London) 



1461-1483] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 169 

359. King Edward's Character. — The King, however, cared 
more for his pleasures than for literature or the welfare of the 
nation. His chief aim was to beg, borrow, or extort money to 
waste in dissipation. The loans which he forced his subjects to 
grant, and which were seldom, if ever, repaid, went under the 
name of "benevolences." But it is safe to say that those who 
furnished them were in no very benevolent frame of mind at 
the time. 

Exception may perhaps be made of the rich and elderly widow, 
who was so pleased with the King's handsome face that she will- 
ingly handed him ^^20 (a large sum in those days) ; and when 
the jovial monarch gallantly kissed her out of gratitude for her 
generosity, she at once, like a true and loyal subject, doubled the 
donation. Edward's course of life was not conducive to length 
of days, even if the times had favored a long reign. He died 
early, leaving a son, Prince Edward, to succeed him. 

360. Summary. — The reign was marked by the continuation 
of the Wars of the Roses, the death of King Henry VI and of his 
son, with the return of Queen Margaret to P'rance. The most 
important event outside of the war was the introduction of the 
printing-press by William Caxton. 

EDWARD V (House of York, White Rose) — 1483 

361. Gloucester appointed Protector. — Prince Edward, heir 
to the throne, was a lad of twelve. He was placed under the 
guardianship of his ambitious and unscrupulous uncle, Richard, 
Duke of Gloucester, who had been appointed Lord Protector of 
the realm until the boy should become of age. Richard protected 
his young nephew as a wolf would a lamb. 

He met the prince coming up to London from Ludlow Castle, 
Shropshire, attended by his half-brother, Sir Richard Grey, and 
his uncle, Lord Rivers. LTnder the pretext that Edward would 
be safer in the Tower of London than at Westminster Palace, 
Richard sent the prince there, and soon found means for having 
his kinsmen. Grey and Rivers, executed. 



I/O LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1483 

362. Murder of Lord Hastings and the Two Princes. — Richard 
shortly after showed his object. Lord Hastings was one of the 
council who had voted to make the duke Protector, but he was 
unwilhng to help him in his plot to seize the crown. While at 
the council-table in the Tower Richard suddenly started up and 
accused Hastings of treason, saying, " By St. Paul, I will not to 
dinner till I see thy head off ! " Hastings was dragged out of the 
room, and without either trial or examination was beheaded on a 
stick of timber on the Tower green. 

The way was now clear for the accomplishment of the duke's 
purpose. The queen-mother (Elizabeth Woodville, widow of 
Edward IV) took her younger son and his sisters, one of whom 
was the Princess Elizabeth of York, and fled for protection to 
the sanctuary (§ 131) of Westminster Abbey, where, refusing all 
comfort, "she sat alone, low on the rushes."^ Finally, Richard 
half persuaded and half forced the unhappy woman to give up 
her second son to his tender care. 

With bitter weeping and dread presentiments of evil she parted 
from him, saying : " Farewell, mine own sweet son ! God send 
you good keeping ! Let me kiss you once ere you go, for God 
knoweth when we shall kiss together again." That was the last 
time she saw the lad. He and Edward, his elder brother, were 
soon after murdered in the Tower, and Richard rose by that 
double crime to the height he coveted. 

363. Summary. — Edward's nominal reign of less than three 
months must be regarded simply as the time during which his 
uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, perfected his plot for seizing the 
crown by the successive murders of Rivers, Grey, Hastings, and 
the two young princes. 

RICHARD III (House of York, White Rose) — 1483-1485 

364. Richard's Accession ; he promises Financial Reform. — 

Richard used the preparations which had been made for the mur- 
dered Prince Edward's coronation for his own. He probably 

1 " On the rushes " : on the stone floor covered with rushes. 



148 3-1485] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM I/I 

gained over an influential party by promises of financial reform. 
In their address to him at his accession Parliament said, " Cer- 
tainly we be determined rather to adventure and commit us to the 
peril of our lives . . . than to live in such thraldom and bondage 
as we have lived long time heretofore, oppressed and injured by 
extortions and new impositions, against the laws of God and man, 
and the liberty, old policy and laws of this realm, wherein every 
Englishman is inherited." ^ 

365. Richard's Character. — Several attempts have been made 
of late years to defend the King against the odium heaped 
upon him by the older historians. But these well-meant efforts 
to prove him less black than tradition painted him are answered 
by the. fact that his memory was thoroughly hated by those who 
knew him best. No one of the age when he lived thought of 
vindicating his character. He was called "a hypocrite" and a 
hunchback. 

We must believe then, until it is clearly proved to the contrary, 
that the last and worst of the Yorkist kings was what common 
report and Shakespeare have together represented him, — dis- 
torted in figure, and with ambition so unrestrained that the words 
the poet puts into his mouth may have been really his : — 

" Then, since the heavens have shap'd my body so, 
Let hell make crookt my mind to answer it." ^ 

Personally he was as brave as he was cruel and unscrupulous. 
He promoted some reforms. He abolished "benevolences" 
(§ 359)} at least for a time, and he encouraged Caxton (§ 358) 
in his great work. 

366. Revolts ; Buckingham ; Henry Tudor. — During his short 
reign of two years, several revolts broke out, but came to nothing. 
The Duke of Buckingham, who had helped Richard to the throne, 
turned against him because he did not get the rewards he expected. 
He headed a revolt ; but as his men deserted him, he fell into the 
King's hands, and the executioner speedily did the rest. 

1 Taswell-Langmead, Constitutional History of England. 

2 Henry VI, Part III, Act V, Scene 6. 



1/2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [148 3-1485 

Finally, a more formidable enemy arose. Before he gained the 
crown Richard had cajoled or compelled the unfortunate Anne 
Neville, widow of that Prince Edward, son of Henry VI, who was 
slain at Tewkesbury (§ 357), into becoming his wife. She might 
have said with truth, " Small joy have I in being England's 
Queen." The King intended that his son should marry Elizabeth 
of York (§ 362), sister to the two princes he had murdered in 
the Tower. By so doing he would strengthen his position and 
secure the succession to the throne to his own family. But 
Richard's son shortly after died, and the King, having mysteriously 
got rid of his wife, now made up his mind to marry Elizabeth 
himself. 

The princess, however, was already betrothed to Henry Tudor, 
Earl of Richmond, the engagement having been effected during 
that sad winter which she and her mother spent in sanctuary at 
Westminster Abbey, watched by Richard's soldiers to prevent their 
escape (§ 362). The Earl of Richmond, who was an illegitimate 
descendant of the house of Lancaster, had long been waiting on 
the continent for an opportunity to invade England and claim 
the crown. 

Owing to the enmity of Edward IV and Richard toward him, 
the earl had been, as he himself said, " either a fugitive or a cap- 
tive since he was five years old." He now determined to remain 
so no longer. He landed (1485) with a force at Milford Haven, 
in Wales, where he felt sure of a welcome, since his paternal 
ancestors were Welsh.-^ 

Advancing through Shrewsbury, he met Richard on Bosworth 
Field, in Leicestershire. 

1 Descent of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond: — 

Henry V (House of Lancaster), married Catharine of France, who after his 

I death married Owen Tudor, a Welshman of Anglesea 

Henry VI | 

Edmund Tudor (Earl of Richmond), married 
Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt, 
Duke of Lancaster [she was granddaughter of 
John, Earl of Somerset ; see page 163] 

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (also 
called Henry of Lancaster) 



14S3-1485] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 1 73 

367. Battle of Bosworth Field (1485). — There the decisive 
battle was fought between the great rival houses of York and Lan- 
caster. Richard went out the evening before to look over the 
ground. He found one of his sentinels slumbering at his post. 
Drawing his sword, he stabbed him to the heart, saying, " I found 
him asleep and I leave him asleep." Going back to his tent, he 
passed a restless night. The ghosts of all his murdered victims 
seemed to pass in procession before him. Such a sight may well, 
as Shakespeare says, have " struck terror to the soul of Richard." ^ 

At sunrise the battle began. Before the attack, Richard, it 
is said, confessed to his troops the murder of his two nephews 
(§ 362), but pleaded that he had atoned for the crime with " many 
salt tears and long penance." It is probable that had it not 
been for the treachery of some of his adherents the King would 
have won the day. 

When he saw that he was deserted by those on whose help he 
had counted, he uttered the cry of "Treason! treason!" and 
dashed forward into the thick of the fight. With the fury of 
despair he hewed his way into the very presence of the earl, and 
killing the standard-bearer, flung the Lancastrian banner to the 
ground. But he could go no further. Numbers overpowered 
him, and he fell. 

During the battle he had worn his crown. After all was over, 
it was found hanging on a hawthorn-bush^ and handed to the 
victor, who placed it on his own head. The army then gathered 
round Henry thus crowned, and moved by one impulse joined in 
the exultant hymn of the Te Deum.* Thus ended the last of the 
Plantagenet line (§ 209). "Whatever their faults or crimes, there 
was not a coward among them." * 

368. End of the Wars of the Roses (1485) ; their Effects. — 
With Bosworth Field the Wars of the Roses ceased. During the 

1 Shakespeare's Richard III, Act V, Scene 3. 

2 An ancient stained-glass window in Henry VII's Chapel (Westminster Abbey) 
commemorates this incident. 

3 " Te Deum laudamus " (We praise thee, O God) : a Roman Catholic hymn of 
thanksgiving, now sung in English in the Episcopal and other churches. 

4 Stubbs' Constitutional History of England. 



174 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1483-1485 

thirty years they had continued, fourteen pitched battles had 
been 'fought, in a single one of which (Towton) (§ 355) more 
Enghshmen lost their lives than in the whole course of the wars 
with France during the preceding forty years. In all, eighty 
princes of the blood royal and more than half of the nobility of 
the realm perished. 

Of those who escaped death by the sword, many died on the 
scaffold. The remnant who were saved had hardly a better fate. 
They left their homes only to suffer in foreign lands. A writer of 
that day^ says : "I, myself, saw the Duke of Exeter, the King 
of England's brother-in-law, walking barefoot in the Duke of 
Burgundy's train, and begging his bread from door to door." 

Every individual of two families of the great houses of Som- 
erset and Warwick fell either on the field or under the executioner's 
axe. In tracing family pedigrees it is startling to see how often 
the record reads, "killed at St. Albans," "slain at Towton," 
"beheaded after the battle of Wakefield," and the like.^ 

When the contest closed, the feudal baronage was broken up 
(§§ 160, 161, 200). In a majority of cases the estates of the 
nobles either fell to the Crown for lack of heirs, or they were 
fraudulently seized by the King's officers. Thus the greater part 
of the wealthiest and most powerful aristocracy in the world 
disappeared so completely that they ceased to have either a local 
habitation or a name. 

But the elements of civil discord at last exhausted themselves. 
Bosworth Field was a turning-point in Enghsh history. When the 
sun went down, it saw the termination of the desperate struggle 
between the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster ; 
when it ushered in a new day, it shone also on a new king, who 
introduced a new social and political period. 

369. Summary. — The importance of Richard's reign is that 
it marks the close of the Wars of the Roses. Those thirty years 
of civil strife destroyed the predominating influence of the feudal 
barons. Henry Tudor (§ 366) now becomes the central figure 
and will ascend the throne. 



1 See the Paston Letters. 2 Guest's Lectures on English History. 



J 



1399-1485] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM 1 75 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE LANCASTRIAN AND YORKIST 
PERIOD (1399-1485) 

I. GOVERNMENT. — IL RELIGION. — IIL MILITARY AFFAIRS. — IV. 
LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUSTRY 
AND COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT 

370. Parliament and the Royal Succession. — The period began 
with the parliamentary recognition of the claim to the crown of 
Henry, Duke of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lan- 
caster, fourth son of Edward III. By this act the claim of Edmund 
Mortimer, a descendant of Edward III by his third son, Lionel, Duke 
of Clarence, was deliberately set aside, and this change of the order 
of succession eventually furnished an excuse for civil war.i 

371 . Disfranchisement of Electors ; Benevolences. — Under Henry VI 
a property qualification was established by act of Parliament 
which cut off all persons from voting for county members of the 
House of Commons who did not have an income of forty shillings 
(say £40, or $200, in modern money) from freehold land. County 
elections, the statute said, had " of late been made by a very great, 
outrageous, and excessive number of people ... of which the most 
part were people of small substance and of no value." 

Later, candidates for the House of Commons from the counties 
were required to be gentlemen by birth, and to have an income 
of not less than ^20 (or say ^400, or |2ooo, in modern money). 
Though the tendency of such laws was to make the House of Com- 
mons represent property-holders rather than the freemen as a body, 
yet no apparent change seems to have taken place in the class of 
county members chosen. 

Eventually, however, these and other interferences with free elec- 
tions caused the rebellion of Jack Cade, in which the insurgents 

1 Before the accession of Henry III, Parliament made choice of any one of the 
king's sons whom they considered best fitted to rule. After that time it was under- 
stood that the king's eldest son should be chosen to succeed him ; or in case of his 
death during the lifetime of his father, the eldest son of the eldest son, and so for- 
ward in that line. The action taken by Parliament in favor of Henry IV was a 
departure from that principle, and a reassertion of its ancient right to choose any 
descendant of the royal family it deemed best. See genealogical table, § 309. 



176 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1399-1485 

^demanded the right to choose such representatives as they saw fit. 
But the movement appears to have had no practical result. During 
the civil war which ensued, the King (Edward IV) compelled wealthy- 
subjects to lend him large sums (seldom, if ever, repaid) called 
"benevolences." Richard III abolished this obnoxious system, but 
afterward revived it, and it became .conspicuously hateful under his 
successor in the next period. 

Another great grievance was Purveyance. By it the king's pur- 
veyors had the right to seize provisions and means of transportation 
for the king and his hundreds of attendants whenever they journeyed 
through the country on a " royal progress." The price offered by the 
purveyors was always much below the real value of what was taken, 
and frequently even that was not paid. Purveyance, which had 
existed from the earliest times, was not finally abolished until 1660. 

RELIGION 

372. Suppression of Heresy. — Under Henry IV the first act was 
passed by Lords and clergy (with the assent of the House of Commons) 
punishing heretics by burning at the stake, and the first martyr 
suffered in that reign. Later, the Lollards, or followers of Wycliffe, 
who appear in many cases to have been socialists as well as religious 
reformers, were punished by imprisonment, and occasionally with 
death. The whole number of martyrs, however, was but small. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS 

373. Armor and Arms. — The armor of the period was made of 
steel plate, fitting and completely covering the body. It was often 
inlaid with gold and elegantly ornamented. Firearms had not yet 
superseded the old weapons. Cannon were in use, and also clumsy 
hand-guns fired with a match. 

The long-bow continued to be the chief arm of the foot-soldiers, 
and was used with great dexterity and fatal effect. Targets were set 
up by law in every parish, and the yeomen were required to practise 
at contests in archery frequently. The principal wars were the civil 
wars and those with France. 

LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART 

374. Introduction of Printing ; Books. — The art of printing was 
introduced into England about 1477 by Caxton, a London merchant. 



1399-1485] SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM IJJ 

Up to that time all books had been written on eitlier parchment or 
paper, at an average rate of about fifty cents per page in modern 
money. The age was not favorable to literature, and produced no 
great writers. But Caxton edited and published a large number of 
works, m?.ny of which he translated from the French and Latin. 

The two books which throw most light on the history of the times 
are the Sir John Paston Letters (1424-1506), and a work by Chief 
Justice Fortescue, on government, intended for the use of Prince 
Edward (slain at Tewkesbury). The latter is remarkable for its bold 
declaration that the king " has the delegation of power from the peo- 
ple, and he has no just claims to any other power than this." The 
chief justice also praises the courage of his countrymen, and declares 
with honest pride that " more Englishmen are hanged in England in 
one year for robbery and manslaughter than are hanged in France in 
seven years." 

375. Education. — Henry VI took a deep interest in education, and 
founded the great public school of Eton, which ranks next in age to 
that of Winchester. The money for its endowment was obtained by 
the appropriation of the revenues of alien or foreign monasteries 
which had been erected in England, and which were confiscated by 
Henry V. The King watched the progress of the building from the 
windows of Windsor Castle, and to supplement the course of educa- 
tion to be given there, he furthermore erected and endowed the 
magnificent King's College, Cambridge. 

376. Architecture. — A new development of Gothic architecture 
occurred during this period, the Decorated giving place to the Per- 
pendicular. The latter derives its name from the perpendicular 
divisions of the lights in the arches of the windows. It marks the 
final period of the Gothic or Pointed style, and is noted for the 
exquisite carved work of its ceilings. King's College Chapel, Cam- 
bridge, St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and Henry VI I's Chapel (built 
in the next reign), connected with Westminster Abbey, are among 
the most celebrated examples of this style of architecture, which is 
peculiar to England. 

The mansions of the nobility at this period exhibited great elegance. 
Crosby Hall, London, at one time the residence of Richard III, and 
still standing, is a fine specimen of the " Inns," as they were called, 
of the great families and wealthy knights. 



178 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1399-1485 



GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 

377* Agriculture and Trade. — Notwithstanding the Civil Wars of 
the Roses, agriculture was prosperous, and foreign trade largely 
increased. The latter was well represented by Sir Richard Whit- 
tington, thrice mayor of London, who, according to tradition, lent 
Henry V large sums of money, and then at an entertainment which he 
gave to the King and Queen in his city mansion, generously cancelled 
the debt by throwing the bonds into the open sandal-wood fire. 

Goldsmiths from Lombardy had now settled in London in such 
numbers as to give the name of Lombard Street to the quarter they 
occupied. They succeeded the Jews in the business of money-lending 
and banking, and Lombard Street still remains famous for its bankers 
and brokers. 

MODES OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 

378. Dress. — Great sums were spent on dress by both sexes, and 
the courtiers' doublets, or jackets, were of the most costly silks and 
velvets, elaborately puffed and slashed. During the latter part of the 
period the pointed shoes, which had formerly been of prodigious 
length, suddenly began to grow broad, with such rapidity that Par- 
liament passed a law limiting the width of the toes to six inches. 

At the same time the court ladies adopted the fashion of wearing 
horns as huge in proportion as the noblemen's shoes. The Govern- 
ment tried legislating them down, and the clergy fulminated a solemn 
curse against them ; but fashion was more powerful than Church and 
Parliament combined, and horns and hoofs came out triumphant. 



[485-1509] POLITICAL REACTION 1 79 



SECTION VIII 

One-half her soil has walked the rest 
In heroes, martyrs, poets, sages." 

O. W. Holmes. 



POLITICAL REACTION— ABSOLUTISM OF THE CROWN 

— THE ENGLISH REFORMATION AND 

THE NEW LEARNING 

CROWN or POPE? 

House of Tudor (1485-1603) 

Henry VII, 1485-1509. Edward VI, 1547-1553. 

Henry VIII, 1509-1547. Mary, 1553-1558. 

Elizabeth, 1558-1603. 

379. Union of the Houses of Lancaster and York. — Before 
leaving the continent Henry Tudor (§ 366) had promised the 
Yorkist party that he would marry Elizabeth, eldest daughter 
of Edward IV (§ 380, table), and sister to the young princes 
murdered by Richard HI. Such a marriage would unite the 
rival houses of Lancaster and York, and thus put an end to the 
civil war. 

A few months after the new King's accession the wedding was 
duly celebrated, and in the beautiful east window of stained glass 
in Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, the Roses are seen 
joined ; so that, as the quaint verse of that day says : — 

" Both roses flourish — red and white — 
In love and sisterly delight; 
The two that were at strife are blended. 
And all old troubles now are ended." 



l80 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [148 5-1 509 

Peace came from the union, but it was peace interrupted by 
insurrections.^ 

380. Condition of the Country ; Power of the Crown. — Henry, 
it is said, had his claim to the throne printed by Caxton, and dis- 
tributed broadcast over the country (§ 358). It was the first 
poUtical appeal to the people made through the press, and was 
a sign of the new period upon which English history had entered. 
Since Caxton began his work, the kingdom had undergone a most 
momentous change. 

The great nobles, like the Earl of Warwick, were, with few 
exceptions, dead. Their estates were confiscated, their thousands 
of followers either buried on the battle-field or dispersed through- 
out the land (§ 368). The small number of titled families remain- 
ing was no longer to be feared. The nation itself, though it had 
taken comparatively little part in the war, was weary of bloodshed, 
and ready for peace on any terms. 

The accession of the Welsh house of Tudor marks the begin- 
ning of a long period of well-nigh absolute royal power. The 
nobihty were too weak to place any check on the King. The 

1 Origin of the House of Tudor 
Edward ^I 

I 2 3 4I 5 

I ^ \ \ \ I 

Edward, William, Lionel, Duke John of Gaunt, Edmund, Duke of York 

(the Black no issue of Clarence, Duke of Lan- | 

Prince) from whom caster | | 

I descended in | Edward, Duke Richard, Earl of 

Richard II a direct line in Henry IV of York, no is- Cambridge, m. 

sue Anne Mortimer, 

great-granddaughter 
of Lionel, Duke of 
of York Henry V (Catharine, his widow, Clarence ; their son 
J I married was Richard, 



the fourth gen 

eration *RlCh 

ard, Duke 



1 Henry VI Owen Tudor, Duke of York 
Edward IV Richard III a Welsh geitleman) / 

, ! , I 1 

I j I Edmund Tudor, Earl of Rich- 

tEdward V fRichard, Elizabeth mond, m. Margaret Beaufort, a 

Duke of York of York, descendant of John of Gaunt, Duke 
m. Henry VII of Lancaster. See pages 163, 172 
(of Lancaster) | 

Henry (Tudor) VII (formerly 
Earl of Richmond), m. Elizabeth 
of York, thus uniting the Houses of 
Lancaster (Red Rose) and York 
(White Rose) in the new royal 
House of Tudor 
* Inherited the title Duke of York from his uncle Edward. See No. 5. 
t The princes murdered by Richard III. 



148 5-1 509] POLITICAL REACTION l8l 

clergy, who had not recovered from their dread of Lollardism 
(§§ 307? 335) aiid its attacks on their wealth and influence, were 
anxious for a strong conservative government such as Henry prom- 
ised. The Commons had no clear united poKcy, and though the 
first Parliament put certain restraints on the Crown, yet they were 
never really enforced.-^ The truth is, that the new King was both 
too prudent and too crafty to give them an opportunity. By 
avoiding foreign wars he dispensed with the necessity of summon- 
ing frequent Parliaments, and also with demands for large sums 
of money. 

By thus ruling alone for a large part of the time, Henry got 
the management of affairs into his own hands, and transmitted 
the power to those who came after him. In this way the Tudors 
with their successors, the Stuarts, built up a system of " personal 
sovereignty" — or ''one man power" unchecked by constitu- 
tional restraints. It continued for a hundred and fifty years, 
when the outbreak of a new civil war brought it to an end forever. 

381. Growth of a Stronger Feeling of Nationality. — It would 
be an error, however, to consider this absolutism of the Crown as 
an unmitigated evil. On the contrary, it was in one important 
direction an advantage. There are times when the great need of 
a people is not more individual liberty, but greater national unity. 
Spain and France were two countries consisting of a collection of 
petty feudal states. Their nobility were always trying to steal 
each other's possessions and cut each other's throats. 

But the rise in each country of a royal despotism forced the 
turbulent barons to make peace, and to obey a common central 
law. By this means both realms ultimately developed into great 
and powerful kingdoms. 

1 At the accession of Henry VII, Parliament imposed the following checks on 
the power of the King : — 

1. No new tax to be levied without consent of Parliament. 

2. No new law to be made without the same consent. 

3. No committal to prison without a warrant specifying the offence, and the trial 
to be speedy. 

4. Criminal charges and questions of fact in civil cases to be decided by jury. 

5. The King's officers to be held responsible to the nation. 



1 82 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [148 5-1 509 

When the Tudors came to the throne, England was still full of 
the rankling hate engendered by the Wars of the Roses (§ 351). 
Held down by the heavy hand of Henry VII, and by the still 
heavier one of his son, the country learned the same salutary 
lesson of growth under repression which had benefited Spain and 
France. 

Henceforth EngHshmen of all classes no longer boasted that 
they belonged to the Yorkist or the Lancastrian faction, but began 
to pride themselves on their loyalty to Crown and country, and 
their readiness to draw their swords to defend both.^ 

382. Henry's Methods of raising Money ; the Court of Star- 
Chamber. — Henry's reign was in the interest of the middle 
classes, — the farmers, tradesmen, and mechanics. His policy 
was to avoid heavy taxation, to exempt the poor from the bur- 
dens of state, and so ingratiate himself with a large body of the 
people. 

In order to accompHsh this, he revived " benevolences " (§ § 359, 
365), and by a device suggested by his chief minister. Cardinal 
Morton, and hence known and dreaded as " Morton's Fork," he 
extorted large sums from the rich and well-to-do.^ 

The cardinal's agents made it their business to learn every man's 
income, and visit him accordingly. If a person lived handsomely, 
the cardinal would insist on a correspondingly hberal gift ; if, how- 
ever, a citizen lived very plainly, the King's minister insisted none 
the less, teffing the unfortunate man that by his economy he must 
surely have accumulated enough to bestow the required " benevo- 
lence." ^ Thus on one prong or the other of his terrible " fork " 

1 But in Ireland the passage of " Poynings' Act " (1494) brought the legislative 
independence of the English colony in that island to an end. The act was not 
repealed until 1782, 

2 Those whose income from land was less than £2^ or whose movable property 
did not exceed ^15 (say ^150 and #1125 now), were exempt. The lowest rate of 
assessment for the " benevolences " was fixed at twenty pence on the pound on land, 
and half that rate on other property. 

3 Richard Reed, a London alderman, refused to contribute a " benevolence." He 
was sent to serve as a soldier in the Scotch wars at his own expense, and the general 
received government orders to " use him in all things according to sharp military 
discipline." The effect was such that few after that ventured to deny the King what 
he asked. 



148 5-1 509] POLITICAL REACTION 1 83 

the shrewd cardinal impaled his writhing victims, and speedily 
filled the royal treasury as it had never been filled before.^ 

But Henry had other methods for raising money. He sold 
ofiices in Church and State, and took bribes for pardoning rebels. 
When he summoned a Parliament he obtained grants for putting 
down some real or pretended insurrection, or to defray the 
expenses of a threatened attack from abroad, and then quietly 
pocketed the appropriation, — a device not altogether unknown 
to modern government officials. 

A third and last method for getting funds was invented in 
Henry's behalf by two law}^ers, Empson and Dudley, who were 
so rapacious and cut so close that they were commonly known 
as "the King's skin-shearers." They went about the country 
enforcing old and forgotten laws, by which they reaped a rich 
harvest. 

Their chief instrument for gain, however, was a revival of the 
Statute of Liveries. This law imposed enormous fines on those 
noblemen who dared to equip their followers in military garb, or 
designate them by a badge equivalent to it, as had been their 
custom during the civil wars (§348). 

In order to thoroughly enforce the Statute of Liveries, Henry 
organized the Court of Star-Chamber, so called from the starred 
ceiling where the tribunal met. This court had for its object 
the punishment of such crimes committed by the great families, 
or their adherents, as the ordinary law courts could not, or 
through intimidation dared not, deal with. It had no power to 
inflict death, but might impose long terms of imprisonment and 
ruinous fines. It, too, first made use of torture in England to 
extort confessions of guilt. 

Henry seems to have enforced the Law of Livery against friend 
and foe alike. Said the King to the Earl of Oxford, as he left 
his castle, where a large number of retainers in uniform were 
drawn up to do him honor, " My lord, I thank you for your enter- 
tainment, but my attorney must speak to you." The attorney, 

1 Henry is said to have accumulated a fortune of nearly two millions sterling, an 
amount which would perhaps represent upwards of ^90,000,000 now. 



1 84 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [148 5-1 509 

who was the notorious Empson, brought suit in the Star-Chamber 
against the earl, who was fined 15,000 marks, or something like 
^750,000, for the incautious display he had made. 

383. The Introduction of Artillery strengthens the Power of 
the King. — It was easier for Henry to pursue this arbitrary 
course because the introduction of artillery had changed the art 
of war. Throughout the Middle Ages the call of a great baron 
had, as Macaulay says, been sufficient to raise a formidable 
revolt. 

Countrymen and followers took down their tough yew long- 
bows from the chimney-corner, knights buckled on their steel 
armor, mounted their horses, and in a few days an army threat- 
ened the throne, which had no troops save those furnished by 
loyal subjects. 

But now that men had digged " villainous saltpetre out of the 
bowels of the harmless earth " to manufacture powder, and that 
others had invented cannon (§291), "those devilish iron 
engines," as the poet Spenser called them, "ordained to kill," 
all was different. 

Without artillery, the old feudal army, with its bows, swords, 
and battle-axes, could do little against a king like Henry, who 
had it. For this reason the whole kingdom lay at his mercy'; 
and though the nobles and the rich might groan, they saw that 
it was useless to fight. 

384. The Pretenders Symnel and Warbeck. — During Henry's 
reign, two pretenders laid claim to the crown : Lambert Symnel, 
who represented himself to be Edward Plantagenet, nephew of 
the late king; and Perkin Warbeck, who asserted that he was 
Richard, Duke of York (§362), who had been murdered in the 
Tower by his uncle, Richard IH. Symnel's attempt was easily 
suppressed, and he commuted his claim to the crown for the 
position of scullion in the King's kitchen. 

Warbeck kept the kingdom in a turmoil for more than five 
years, during which time one hundred and fifty of his adher- 
ents were executed, and their bodies exposed on gibbets along 
the south shore to deter their master's French supporters from 




HENRY VirS CHAPEL (Westminster 



Abbey) 



1485-1509] POLITICAL REACTION 1 85 

landing. At length Warbeck was captured, imprisoned, and finally 
hanged at Tyburn. 

385. Henry's Politic Marriages. — Henry accomplished more 
by the marriages of his children and by diplomacy than other 
monarchs had by their wars. He gave his daughter Margaret to 
King James IV of Scotland, and thus prepared the way for the 
union of the two kingdoms. He married his eldest son, Prince 
Arthur, to Catharine of Aragon, daughter of the King of Spain, by 
which he secured a very large marriage portion for the prince, and, 
what was of equal importance, the alliance of Spain against France. 

Arthur died soon afterwards, and the King got a dispensation 
from the Pope, granting him permission to marry his younger 
son Henry to Arthur's widow. It was this prince who eventually 
became- King of England, with the title of Henry VIII, and we 
shall hereafter see that this marriage was destined by its results 
to change the whole course of the country's history. 

386. The World as known at Henry's Accession (1485). — 
The King also took some small part in certain other events, 
which seemed to him, at the time, of less consequence than these 
matrimonial alliances. But history has regarded them in a differ- 
ent light from that in which the cunning and cautious monarch 
considered them. 

A glance at the map^ will show how different our world is 
from that with which the English of Henry's time were acquainted. 
Then the earth was generally supposed not to be a globe, but 
simply a flat body surrounded by the ocean. The only countries 
of which anything was certainly known, with the exception of 
Europe, were parts of Western Asia, together with a small strip 
of the northern and eastern coast of Africa. The knowledge 
which had once existed of India, China, and Japan appears to 
have died out in great measure with the travellers and merchants 
of earlier times who had brought it. The land farthest west of 
which anything was then known was Iceland. 

387. First Voyages of Exploration ; the Cabots, 1497. — About 
the time of Henry's accession a new spirit of exploration sprang 

1 See Map No. 12, facing page 186. 



1 86 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [148 5-1 509 

up. The Portuguese had coasted along Africa as far as the Gulf 
of Guinea, and there established trading-posts. Stimulated by 
what they had done, Columbus, who believed the earth to be 
round, determined to sail westward in the hope of reaching the 
Indies. In 1492 he made his first voyage, and discovered a 
number of the West India Islands. 

Five years later (1497), John Cabot, a Venetian residing in 
Bristol, England, with his son Sebastian, who was probably born 
there, persuaded the King to aid them in a similar undertaking. 
They sailed from that port. On a map drawn by the father after 
his return we read the following lines : " In the year of our Lord 
1497, John Cabot and his son Sebastian discovered that country 
which no one before his time had ventured to approach, on the 
24th June, about 5 o'clock in the morning." That entry is sup- 
posed to record the discovery of Cape Breton Island ; ^ a few days 
later they set foot on the mainland. This made the Cabots the 
first discoverers of the American continent. 

As an offset to that record we have the following, taken from the 
King's private account-book : " 10. Aug. 1497, To him that found 
the new isle ;^io." 

Such was the humble beginning of a series of explorations which 
gave England possession of the largest part of North America. 

388. Henry VII' s Reign the Beginning of a New Epoch. — 
A few years after Cabot's return Henry laid the corner-stone of 
that " solemn and sumptuous chapel " which bears his own name, 
and which joins Westminster Abbey on the east. There he gave 
orders that his tomb should be erected, and that prayers should 
be said over it "as long as the world lasted.'* 

Emerson remarks ^ that when the visitor to the Abbey mounts 
the flight of twelve black marble steps which lead from it to the 
edifice where Henry Hes buried, he passes from the mediaeval to the 
beginning of the modern age, — a change which the architecture 
itself distinctly marks (§ 376). 

The true significance of Henry's reign is, that it, in like manner, 

1 Newfoundland was probably discovered at the same time. 

2 Emerson's English Traits. 




No. 12, THE WORLD SHORTLY AFTER THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VII 



Light arrows show voyages south made up to 1492 ; (light track, Da Gama's voyage, 1497). 
Dark arrows, voyages of Columbus and Cabot. 

White crosses, countries of which something was known before 1492. 

White area, including western coast of Africa, the world as known shortly after Henry VII's 
accession. 



1485-1509] POLITICAL REACTION 1 8/ 

Stands for a new epoch, — new in modes of government, in law, 
in geographical discovery, in letters, art, and religion. 

The century just closing was indeed one of the most remark- 
able in history, not only in what it had actually accomplished, 
but still more in the seed it was sowing for the future. The artist 
Kaulbach, in his fresco entitled " The Age of the Reformation," ^ 
has summed up all that it was, and all that it was destined to 
become in its full development. 

Therein we see it as the period which witnessed the introduction 
of firearms, and the consequent overthrow of feudal warfare and 
feudal institutions ; the growth of the power of royalty and of 
nationality through royalty; the sailing of Columbus and of 
Cabot; the revival of classical learning; the publication of the 
first printed book; and finally, the birth of that monk, Martin 
Luther, who was to emancipate the human mind from its long 
bondage to ecclesiastical tradition and arbitrary authority. 

389. Summary. — Looking back, we find that with Henry the 
absolutism of the Crown or "personal monarchy" began in Eng- 
land. Yet through its repressive power the country gained a pro- 
longed peace, and, despite "benevolences" and other exactions, 
it grew into stronger national unity. 

Simultaneously with this increase of royal authority came the 
discovery of a " New World," in which England was to have the 
chief part. A century will elapse before those discoveries bear 
fruit. After that, our attention will no longer be confined to the 
British Islands, but will be fixed as well on that western continent 
where EngHsh enterprise and EngUsh love of liberty were destined 
to find a new and broader field of activity. 

HENRY VIII — 1509-1547 

390. Henry's Advantages. — Henry was not quite eighteen 
when he came to the throne. The country was at peace, was 
fairly prosperous, and the young King had everything in his favor. 

1 Kaulbach's (Kowl'bak) Age of the Reformation : one of a historical series of 
colossal wall paintings in the Berlin Museum. 



1 88 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 509-1 547 

He was handsome, well educated, and fond of athletic sports. His 
frank disposition won friends everywhere, and he had inherited 
from his father the largest private fortune that had ever descended 
to an English sovereign. Intellectually, he was in hearty sympathy 
with the revival of learning, then in progress both on the continent 
and in England. 

391. The New Learning; Colet, Erasmus, More. — During the 
greater part of the Middle Ages the chief object of education was 
to make men monks, and originally the schools established at 
Oxford and Cambridge were exclusively for that purpose. In 
their day they did excellent work; but a time came when men 
ceased to found monasteries, and began to erect colleges and 
hospitals instead.^ 

In the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries William 
of Wykeham and King Henry VI built and endowed colleges which 
were specially designed to fit their pupils to live in the world and 
serve the State, instead of withdrawing from it to seek their own 
salvation. 

These new institutions encouraged a broader range of studies, 
and in Henry VI 's time particular attention was given to the Latin 
classics, hitherto but little known. The geographical discoveries 
of Henry VH's reign, made by Columbus, Cabot, and others, began 
to stimulate scientific thought (§ 387). It was evident that the 
day was not far distant when questions about the earth and the 
stars would no longer be settled by a text from Scripture which 
forbade further inquiry. 

With the accession of Henry VIII education received a still 
further impulse. A few zealous Enghsh scholars had just returned 
from Italy to Oxford, full of ardor for a new study, — that of Greek. 
Among them was a young clergyman named John Colet. He saw 
that by means of that language, of which the alphabet was as yet 
hardly known in England, men might put themselves in direct 
communication with the greatest thinkers and writers of the past. 

1 In the twelfth century four hundred and eighteen monasteries were founded in 
England ; in the next century, only about a third as many ; in the fourteenth, only 
twenty-three ; after that date their establishment may be said to cease. 



1509-1547] POLITICAL REACTION 1 89 

Better still, they might acquire the power of reading the Gospels 
and the writings of St. Paul in the original, and thus reach their 
true meaning and feel their full influence. Colet's intimate friend 
and fellow-worker, the Dutch scholar Erasmus, had the same 
enthusiasm. When in sore need of everything, he wrote in one 
of his letters, " As soon as I get some money I shall buy Greek 
books, and then I may buy some clothes." The third young man, 
who, with Erasmus and Colet, devoted himself to the study of 
Greek and to the advancement of learning was Thomas More, who 
later became Lord Chancellor (§ 403). 

The three looked to King Henry for encouragement in the work 
they had undertaken ; nor did they look in vain. Colet, who had 
become a doctor of divinity and a dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, 
London>_encountered a furious storm of opposition on account of 
his devotion to the " New Learning," as it w^s sneeringly called. 
His attempts at educational reform met the same resistance. 

But Henry stood by him, liking the man's spirit, and saying, 
" Let others have what doctors they will ; this is the doctor for 
me." The King also took a lively interest in Erasmus, who was 
appointed professor of Greek at Cambridge, where he began his 
great work of preparing an edition of the Greek Testament with 
a Latin translation in parallel columns. 

Up to this time the Greek Testament had existed in scattered 
manuscripts only. The publication of the work in printed form 
gave an additional impetus to the study of the Scriptures, helped 
forward the Reformation, and in a measure laid the foundation 
for a revised EngHsh translation of the Bible far superior to 
Wycliffe's (§ 306). In the same spirit of genuine love of learn- 
ing, Henry founded Trinity College, Cambridge, and at a later 
date confirmed and extended Cardinal Wolsey's endowment 
of Christ Church College, Oxford. 

392. Henry versus Luther. — The King continued, however, 
to be a stanch Catholic, and certainly had no thought at this 
period of doing anything which should tend to undermine that 
ancient form of worship. In Germany, Martin Luther was mak- 
ing ready to begin his tremendous battle against the power and 



190 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 509-1 547 

teachings of the Papacy. In 15 17 he nailed to the door of 
the church of Wittenberg that famous series of denunciations 
which started the movement that ultimately protested against the 
authority of Rome, and gave the name of Protestant to all who 
joined it. 

A few years later Henry pubhshed a reply to one of Luther's 
books, and sent a copy bound in cloth of gold to the Pope. The 
Pope was so delighted with what he termed Henry's "angelic 
spirit," that he forthwith conferred on him the title of " Defender 
of the Faith." The English sovereigns have persisted in retain- 
ing it to the present time, though for what reason, and with what 
right, even a royal intellect might be somewhat puzzled to 
explain. 

With the new and flattering title the Pope also sent the King 
a costly two-handed sword, intended to represent Henry's zeal 
in smiting the enemies of Rome, but destined by fate to be 
the symbol of the King's final separation from the power that 
bestowed it. 

393. Victory of Flodden (1513) ; Field of the Cloth of Gold 
(1520). — Pohtically, Henry was equally fortunate. The Scotch 
had ventured to attack the kingdom during the King's absence 
on the continent. They were defeated at Flodden^ by the Earl 
of Surrey, with great slaughter. This victory placed Scotland at 
Henry's feet^^ 

The King of France and the Emperor Charles V of Germany 
now vied with each other in seeking Henry's alliance. The Em- 
peror visited England in order to meet the English sovereign, 
while the King of France arranged an interview in his own domin- 
ions, known, from the magnificence of its appointments, as the 
" Field of the Cloth of Gold." Henry held the balance of power 
by which he could make France or Germany predominate as 
he saw fit. It was owing to his able diplomatic policy, or to 
Wolsey's, that England reaped advantages from both sides, and 

1 Flodden is on the border of Scotland and England. See Map No. g, facing 
page 122. 

2 See Scott's Marmion. 



1509-1547] POLITICAL REACTION I9I 

advanced from a comparatively low position to one that was fully 
abreast of the foremost nations of Europe. 

394. Henry's Marriage with his Brother's Widow. — Such 
was the King at the outset. In less than twenty years he had 
become another man. At the age of twelve he had married ^ at his 
father's command, and solely for poHtical and mercenary reasons, 
Catharine of Aragon, his brother Arthur's widow (§ 385), who was 
six years his senior. Such a marriage was forbidden, except in 
certain cases, by the Old Testament and by the ordinances of the 
Roman Catholic Church. 

The Pope, however, had granted his permission, and when Henry 
ascended the throne, the ceremony was performed a second time. 
Several children were the fruit of this union, all of whom died in 
infancy^ except one daughter, Mary, unhappily fated to figure as 
the "Bloody Mary" of later history (§ 426). 

395. The King's Anxiety for a Successor; Anne Boleyn 

No woman had yet ruled in her own right, either in England or 
in any prominent kingdom of Europe, and Henry was anxious 
to have a son to succeed him. He could not bear the thought of 
being disappointed ; in fact he sent the Duke of Buckingham to 
the block for casually saying, that if the King died without issue, 
he should consider himself entitled to receive the crown. 

It was while meditating this question of the succession, that 
Henry became attached to Anne Boleyn, one of the Queen's maids 
of honor; she was a sprightly brunette of nineteen, with long 
black hair and strikingly beautiful eyes. 

The light that shone in thos.e eyes, though hardly that " Gospel- 
light " which the poet calls it,^ was yet bright enough to effect- 
ually clear up all difficulties in the royal mind. The King now felt 
conscientiously moved to obtain a divorce from the old wife, and 
to marry a new one. In that determination lay most moment- 
ous consequences, since it finally separated England from the 
jurisdiction of the Church of Rome. 

1 See Hallam ; other authorities call it a solemn betrothal. 

2 " When love could teach a monarch to be wise, 

And Gospel-light first dawned from Bullen's [Boleyn's] eyes." — Gray. 



192 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 509-1 547 

396. Wolsey favors the Divorce from Catharine. — Cardinal 
Wolsey, Henry's chief counsellor, lent his powerful aid to bring 
about the divorce, but with the expectation that the King would 
marry a princess of France, and thus form an alliance with that 
country. If so, his own ambitious schemes would be forwarded, 
since the united influence of the two kingdoms might elevate him 
to the Papacy. 

When Wolsey learned that the King's choice was Anne Boleyn 
(§ 395), he fell on his knees, and begged him not to persist in his 
purpose ; but his entreaties had no effect, and the cardinal was 
obliged to continue what he had begun. 

397. The Court at Blackfriars (1529) . — Application had been 
made to the Pope to annul the marriage with Catharine (§ 394) 
on the ground of illegality ; but the Pope was in the power of the 
Emperor Charles V, who was the Queen's nephew. Vexatious 
delays now became the order of the day. At last, a court com- 
posed of Cardinal Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio, an Italian, 
as papal legates, or representatives, was convened at Blackfriars, | 
London, to test the validity of the marriage. 

Henry and Catharine were summoned. The first appeared and 
answered to his name. When the Queen was called she dechned 
to answer, but throwing herself at Henry's feet, begged him with 
tears and sobs not to put her away without cause. Finding him 
inflexible, she left the court, and refused to attend again, appealing 
to Rome for justice. 

This was in the spring (1529). Nothing was done that summer, 
and in the autumn, the court, instead of reaching a decision, 
dissolved. Campeggio, the Italian legate, returned to Italy, and 
Henry, to his disappointment and rage, received an order from 
Rome to carry the question to the Pope for settlement. 

398. Fall of Wolsey (1529). — Both the King and Anne 
Boleyn believed that Wolsey had played false with them. They 
now resolved upon his destruction. The cardinal had a presenti- 
ment of his impending doom. The French ambassador, who saw 
him at this juncture, said that his face had shrunk to half its size. 
But his fortunes were destined to shrink even more than his face. 



1 509-1 547] POLITICAL REACTION 1 93 

By a law of Richard II (Act of Praemunire), no representative 
of the Pope had any rightful authority in England^ (§ 317). 
Though the King had given his consent to Wolsey's holding 
the office of legate, yet now that a contrary result to what he 
expected had been reached, he proceeded to prosecute him to 
the full extent of the law. 

It was an easy matter to crush the cardinal. His arrogance 
and extravagant ostentation had excited the jealous hate of the 
nobility ; his constant demands for money in behalf of the King 
had set Parliament against him ; and his exactions from the com- 
mon people had, as the chronicle of the time tells us, made them 
weep, beg, and " speak cursedly." 

Wolsey bowed to the storm, and to save himself gave up every- 
thing ; his riches, pomp, power, all vanished as suddenly as they 
had come. It was Henry's hand that stripped him, but it was 
Anne Boleyn who moved that hand. Well might the humbled 
favorite say of her : — 

'* There was the weight that pulled me down. 
... all my glories 
In that one woman I have lost f9rever." ^ 

Thus deprived of well-nigh everything but hfe, Wolsey was per- 
mitted to go into retirement in the north ; less than a twelvemonth 
later he was arrested on a charge of high treason. Through the 
irony of fate^ the warrant was served by a former lover of Anne 
Boleyn's, whom Wolsey, it is said, had separated from her in order 
that she might consummate her unhappy marriage with royalty. 
On the way to London Wolsey fell mortally ill, and turned aside 
at Leicester to die in the abbey there, with the words : — 

" . . . O, Father Abbot, 
An old man, broken with the storms of state, 
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye : 
Give him a little earth for charity ! " ^ 

1 Act of Praemunire (Prem'u-ni're). See Summary of Constitutional History 
in the Appendix, page xiii, § 14, and page xxxii. 

2 Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Act III, Scene 2. 
s Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Act IV, Scene 2. 



194 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 509-1 547 

399. Appeal to the Universities. — Before Wolsey's death, Dr. 
Thomas Cranmer, of Cambridge, suggested that the King lay the 
divorce question before the universities of Europe. Henry caught 
eagerly at this proposition, and exclaimed, " Cranmer has the right 
pig by the ear." The scheme was at once adopted. Several 
universities returned favorable answers. In a few instances, as at 
Oxford and Cambridge, where the authorities hesitated, a judi- 
cious use of bribes or threats soon brought them to see the matter 
in a proper light. 

400. The Clergy declare Henry Head of the Church (1531). — 
Armed with these decisions in his favor, Henry now charged the 
whole body of the English Church with being guilty of the same 
crime of which Wolsey had been accused (§ 398). The clergy, 
in their terror, made haste to buy a pardon at a cost reckoned at 
nearly ^5,000,000 at the present value of money. 

They furthermore declared Henry to be the supreme head on 
earth of the Church of England, adroitly adding, " in so far as is 
permitted by the law of Christ." Thus the Reformation came 
into England " by a side door, as it were." Nevertheless, it came. 

401. Henry marries Anne Boleyn ; Act of Supremacy (1534). — 
Events now moved rapidly toward a crisis. Thomas Cromwell, 
Wolsey's former servant and fast friend, succeeded him in the 
King's favor. In 1533, after having waited over five years, Henry 
privately married Anne Boleyn (§ 395), and she was soon after 
crowned in Westminster Abbey. When the Pope was informed of 
this, he ordered the King, under pain of excommunication (§§218, 
246), to put her away, and to take back Catharine (§397). 

Parliament met that demand by passing the Act of Supremacy 
(1534), which declared Henry to be without reservation the sole 
head of the Church, making denial thereof high treason.^ As he 
signed the act, the King with one stroke of his pen overturned 
the traditions of a thousand years, and England stood boldly forth 
with a National Church independent of the Pope. 

1 Henry's full title was now " Henry VIII, by the Grace of God, King of England, 
France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England, and also 
of Ireland, on earth the Supreme Head." 



1509-1547] POLITICAL REACTION 195 

402. Subserviency of Parliament. — But as Luther said, Henry 
had a pope within him. Through Thomas Cromwell's zealous aid 
he now proceeded to prove it. We have already seen (§ 368) 
that since the Wars of the Roses had destroyed the power of the 
barons, there was no effectual check on the despotic will of the 
King. The new nobihty were the creatures of the Crown, hence 
bound to support it ; the clergy were timid, the Commons any- 
thing but bold, so that Parliament gradually became the servile 
echo and ready instrument of the throne. 

It empowered the King on his reaching the age of twenty- 
four to annul whatever legislative enactments he pleased of those 
which had been passed since his accession. It later humiliated 
itself still further by promulgating that law (1539), in itself the 
destruction of all law, which gave Henry's simple proclama- 
tions the force of acts of Parliament, and thus enabled him to 
declare any opinions he disliked heretical or treasonable and 
punishable with death. 

403. Execution of More and Fisher (1535). — Thomas Crom- 
well in his crooked and cruel policy had reduced bloodshed to a 
science. He first introduced the practice of condemning an 
accused prisoner (by Act of Attainder) without allowing him to 
speak in his own defence. No one was now safe who did not 
openly side with the King. 

Sir Thomas More, who had been Lord Chancellor (§ 391), and 
the aged Bishop Fisher were executed because they could not affirm 
that they conscientiously beheved that Henry was morally and 
spiritually entitled to be the head of the EngHsh Church (§ 401). 

Both died with Christian fortitude. More said to the governor 
of the Tower with a flash of his old humor, as the steps leading 
to the scaffold shook while he was mounting them, " Do you see 
me safe up, and I will make shift to get down by myself." 

404. Suppression of the Monasteries ; Seizure of their Property 
(1536-1539). — When the intelligence of the judicial murder of 
the venerable ex-chancellor reached Rome, the Pope issued a bull 
of excommunication and deposition against Henry. It delivered 
his soul to the devil, and his kingdom to the first invader. 



196 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1509-1547 

The King retaliated by the suppression of the monasteries. In 
doing so, he simply hastened a process which had already begun. 
Years before, Cardinal Wolsey had not scrupled to shut up several, 
and take their revenues to found a college at Oxford. The truth 
was, that monasticism had done its work, and, as a recent writer 
has well said, "was dead long before the Reformation came to 
bury it." ^ 

Henry, however, had no such worthy object as Wolsey had. 
His pretext was that these institutions had sunk into a state of 
ignorance, drunkenness, and profligacy. This may have been 
true, in some measure, of the smaller monasteries, but not of the 
larger ones. 

But their vices the King had already made his own. It was 
their wealth which he now coveted. The smaller religious houses 
were speedily swept out of existence (1536). This caused a furi- 
ous insurrection in the north, called the " Pilgrimage of Grace " 
(1537) y but the revolt was soon put down. 

Though Parliament had readily given its sanction to the extinc- 
tion of the smaller monasteries, it hesitated about abolishing the 
greater ones. Henry, it is reported, sent for a leading member of 
the House of Commons, and, laying his hand on the head of the 
kneeling representative, said, " Get my bill passed by to-morrow, 
little man, or else to-morrow this head of yours will come off." 
The next day the bill passed, and the work of destruction began 
anew (1539). It involved the confiscation of property worth 
millions of pounds, and the summary execution of abbots, who, 
like those of Glastonbury and Charter House, dared to resist.^ 

The magnificent monastic buildings throughout England were 
now stripped of everything of value, and left as ruins. The beau- 
tiful windows of stained glass were wantonly broken ; the images 
of the saints were cast down from their niches ; the chim( 
of bells were melted and cast into cannon ; while the valuably 

1 Armitage's Childhood of the English Nation. 

2 The total number of reUgious houses destroyed was 645 monasteries, 237I 
chapels, go collegiate churches, and no charitable institutions. Among the mos 
famous of these ruins are Kirkstall, Furness, Netley, Tintern, and Fountains AbbeyJ 



1 509-1 547] POLITICAL REACTION 19/ 

libraries were torn up and' sold to grocers and soap-boilers for 
wrapping-paper. 

At Canterbury, Becket's tomb (§ 221) was broken open, and 
after he had been nearly four centuries in his grave, the saint was 
summoned to answer a charge of rebellion and treason. The 
case was tried at Westminster Abbey, the martyr's bones were 
sentenced to be burned, and the jewels and rich offerings of 
his shrine were seized by the King. 

Among the few monastic buildings which escaped was the beau- 
tiful abbey church of Peterborough, where Catharine of Aragon 
(§ 397) J who died soon after the King's marriage with her rival, 
was buried. Henry had the grace to give orders that on her 
account it should be spared, saying that he would leave to her 
memory "one of the goodliest monuments in Christendom." 

The great estates thus suddenly acquired by the Crown were 
granted to favorites or thrown away at the gambling- table. " It is 
from this date," says Hallam, " that the leading famihes of Eng- 
land, both within and without the peerage, became conspicuous 
through having obtained possession of the monastery lands." 
These were estimated to comprise about one-fourth of the whole 
area of the kingdom. 

405. Eifects of the Destruction of the Monasteries. — The 
sweeping character of this act had a twofold effect. First, it 
made the King more absolute than before, for, since it removed 
the abbots, who had held seats in the House of Lords, that 
body was made just so much smaller and less able to resist the 
royal will. 

Next, the abohtion of so many religious institutions necessarily 
caused great misery to those who were turned out upon the world 
destitute of means and without ability to work. In the end, how- 
ever, no permanent injury was done, since the monasteries, by their 
profuse and indiscriminate charity, had undoubtedly encouraged 
much of the very pauperism which they had relieved. 

406. Distress among the Laboring Classes. — An industrial 
revolution was also in progress at this time which was productive 
of widespread suffering. It had begun early in Henry's reign 



198 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 509-1 547 

through the great numbers of discharged soldiers, who could not 
readily find work. 

Sir Thomas More had given a striking picture of their miser- 
able condition in his "Utopia," a book in which he urged the 
Government to consider measures for their rehef; but the evil 
had since become much worse. Farmers, having discovered that 
wool-growing was more profitable than the raising of grain, had 
turned their fields into sheep-pastures ; so that a shepherd with 
his dog now took the place of several families of laborers. 

This change brought multitudes of poor people to the verge of 
starvation ; and as the monasteries no longer existed to hold out 
a helping hand, the whole realm was overrun with beggars and 
thieves. Bishop Latimer, a noted preacher of that day, declared 
that if every farmer should raise two acres of hemp, it would not 
make rope enough to hang them all. Henry, however, set to work 
with characteristic vigor, and it is said made way with over seventy 
thousand, but without materially abating the evil. 

407. Execution of Anne Boleyn ; Marriage with Jane Seymour 
(1536). — Less than three years after her coronation, the new 
Queen, Anne Boleyn (§§ 395, 401), for whom Henry had " turned 
England and Europe upside down," was accused of unfaithfulness. 
She was sent a prisoner to the Tower. A short time after, her 
head rolled in the dust, the light of its beauty gone out forever 

(1536). 

The next morning Henry married Jane Seymour, Anne's maid 
of honor. Parliament passed an act of approval, declaring that it 
was all done "of the King's most excellent goodness." It also 
declared Henry's two previous marriages void and affirmed that 
the princesses Mary and Elizabeth were not lawfully the King's 
daughters. A later act gave Henry the extraordinary power of 
naming his successors to the crown. By his last will he made 
Mary and Elizabeth heirs to the crown in case all male and female 
issue by himself or his son Edward failed (§ 420). Henry's elder 
sister, Margaret (see No. 3 in table on page 205), was passed by 
entirely. But later (1603) Parliament set Henry's will aside and 
made James I (a descendant of Margaret) King of England. A 



1 509-1 547] POLITICAL REACTION 1 99 

year later the Queen died, leaving a son, Edward. She was no 
sooner gone than the King began looking about for some one 
to take her place. 

408. More Marriages (1540). — This time Thomas Cromwell 
(§§ 401-403) had projects of his own for a German Protestant 
alliance. He succeeded in persuading his master to agree to 
marry Anne of Cleves, a German princess, whom the King had 
never seen, but whom the painter Holbein represented in a 
portrait as a woman of surpassing beauty. 

When Anne reached England, Henry hurried to meet her 
with all a lover's ardor. To his dismay, he found that not only 
was she ridiculously ugly, but that she could speak — so he said 
— "nothing but Dutch," of which he did not understand a word. 
Matters'^ however, had gone too far to retract, and the marriage 
was duly solemnized (1540). The King obtained a divorce 
within six months, and then took his revenge by cutting off 
Cromwell's head. 

The same year (1540) Henry married Catharine Howard, a 
fascinating girl still in her teens, whose charms so moved the King 
that it is said he was tempted to have a special thanksgiving 
service prepared to commemorate the day he found her. 

Unfortunately, Catharine had fallen into dishonor before her 
marriage. She tried hard to keep the terrible secret, but finding 
it impossible, confessed her fault. For such cases Henry had no 
mercy. The Queen was tried for high treason, and soon walked 
that road in which Anne Boleyn had preceded her (§ 407). 

Not to be baffled in his matrimonial experiments, the King 
took Catherine Parr for his sixth and last wife (1543). She, too, 
would have gone to the block, on a charge of heresy, had not her 
quick wit saved her by a happily turned compHment, which 
flattered the King's self-conceit as a profound theologian. 

409. Henry's Action respecting Religion. — Though occupied 
with these rather numerous domestic infelicities, Henry was not 
idle in other directions. By an act known as the "Six Articles," or, 
as the Protestants called it, the "Bloody Act" (1539), the King 
estabhshed a new form of religion, which in words, at least, was 



200 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 509-1 547 

practically the same as that upheld by the Pope, but with the 
Pope left out. 

Geographically, the country was about equally divided between 
Catholicism and Protestantism. The northern and western half 
clung to the ancient faith ; the southern and eastern, including 
most of the large cities where Wycliffe's doctrines had formerly 
prevailed, was favorable to the Reformation. 

On the one hand, Henry prohibited the Lutheran doctrine ; 
on the other, he caused the Bible to be translated (1538), and 
ordered a copy to be chained to a desk in every parish church 
in England ; but though all persons might now freely read the 
Scriptures, no one but the clergy was allowed to interpret them. 
Later in his reign, the King became alarmed at the spread of dis- 
cussion about religious subjects, and prohibited the reading of the 
Bible by the "lower sort of people." 

410. Heresy versus Treason. — Men now found themselves in 
a strange and cruel dilemma. If it was dangerous to believe too 
much, it was equally dangerous to believe too little. Traitor and 
heretic were dragged to execution on the same hurdle ; for Henry 
burned as heretics those who declared their belief in Protestant- 
ism, and hanged as traitors those who acknowledged the authority 
of the Pope. 

Thus Anne Askew, a young and beautiful woman, was nearly 
wrenched asunder on the rack, in the hope of making her impli- 
cate the Queen in her heresy. She was afterward burned because 
she insisted that the bread and wine used in the communion ser- 
vice seemed to her to be simply bread and wine, and not in any 
sense the actual body and blood of Christ, as the King's statute of 
the "Six Articles" (§ 409) solemnly declared. 

On the other hand, the aged Countess of Salisbury suffered for 
treason; but with a spirit matching the King's, she refused to 
kneel at the block, and told the executioner he must get her gray 
head off as best he could. 

411. Henry's Death. — But the time was at hand when Henry 
was to cease his hangings, beheadings, and marriages. Worn out 
with debauchery, he died at the age of fifty-six, a loathsome. 



1509-1547] POLITICAL REACTION 20I 

unwieldy, and helpless mass of corruption. In his will he left a 
large sum of money to pay for perpetual prayers for the repose 
of his soul. Sir Walter Raleigh said of him, " If all the pictures 
and. patterns of a merciless prince were lost in the world, 
they might all again be painted to the life out of the story of 
this king." 

It may be well to remember this, and along with it this other 
saying of the ablest living writer on English constitutional history, 
that " the world owes some of its greatest debts to men from 
whose memory it recoils." -^ The obligation it is under to 
Henry VIII is that through his influence — no matter what 
the motive — England was lifted up out of the old mediaeval 
ruts, and placed squarely and securely on the new highway of 
national progress. 

412. Summary. — In this reign we find that though England 
lost much of her former political freedom, yet she gained that 
order and peace which came from the iron hand of absolute 
power. Next, from the suppression of the monasteries, and 
the sale or gift of their lands to favorites of the King, three 
results ensued : (i) a new nobihty was in- great measure created, 
dependent on the Crown; (2) the House of Lords was made 
less powerful by the removal of the abbots who had had seats 
in it; (3) pauperism was for a time largely increased, and much 
distress caused ; (4) finally, England completely severed her con- 
nection with the Pope, and established for the first time an 
independent National Church, having the King as its head. 

EDWARD VI — 1547-1553 

413. Bad Government; Seizure of Unenclosed Lands; High 
Rents ; Latimer's Sermon. — Edward, son of Henry VIII by Jane 
Seymour (§ 407), died at sixteen. In the first of his reign of six 
years the government was managed by his uncle, the Duke of 
Somerset, an extreme Protestant, whose intentions were good, but 
who lacked practical judgment. During the latter part of his life 

1 Stubbs' Constitutional History of England. 



202 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1547-1553 

Edward fell under the control of the Duke of Northumberland, 
who was the head of a band of scheming and profligate men. 

They, with other nobles, seized the unenclosed lands of the 
country and fenced them in for sheep-pastures, thus driving into 
beggary many who had formerly got a good part of their living 
from these commons. At the same time farm rents rose in some 
cases ten and even twenty fold,^ depriving thousands of the means 
of subsistence, and reducing many who had been in comfortable 
circumstances to poverty. 

The bitter complaints of the sufferers found expression in Bishop 
Latimer's outspoken sermon, preached before the King, in which 
he said : " My father was a yeoman [small farmer], and had no 
lands of his own, only he had a farm of three or four pounds 
[rent] by year, and hereupon tilled so much as kept half a dozen 
men ; he had walk [pasture] for a hundred sheep, and my mother 
milked thirty kine. 

" He was able and did find the King a harness [suit of armor] 
with himself and his horse, until he came to the place where he 
should receive the King's wages. I can remember that I buckled, 
his harness when he went into Blackheath Field. He kept me to 
school, or else I had not been able to have preached before the 
King's majesty now. He married my sisters with five pounds 
. . . apiece. He kept hospitality for his poor neighbors, and 
some alms he gave to the poor. 

" And all this he did off the said farm, where he that now hath 
it payeth sixteen pounds a year or more, and is not able to do 
anything for his prince, for himself, nor for his children, or give 
a cup of drink to the poor." But as Latimer pathetically said, 
" Let the preacher preach till his tongue be worn to the stumps, 
nothing is amended." ^ 

414. Edward establishes Protestantism (1549). — Henry VHI 
had made the Church of England independent of the Pope (§401). 

1 This was owing to the greed for land on the part of the mercantile classes, who 
had now acquired wealth, and wished to become landed proprietors. See Froude's 
England. 

2 Latimer's first sermon before King Edward VI, 8th of March, 1549. 



1547-1553] POLITICAL REACTION 203 

His son took the next great step, and made it Protestant in 
doctrine. At his desire, Archbishop Cranmer compiled a book of 
Common Prayer, taken largely from the Roman Catholic Prayer- 
Book (1549). The first Act of Uniformity, 1549 (reenacted 
1552), obliged all churches to use this collection, thereby 
establishing Protestantism throughout England.-^ 

Edward's sister, the Princess Mary, was a firm Catholic. She 
refused to adopt the new service, saying to Bishop Ridley, who 
urged her to accept it as God's word, " I cannot tell what you 
call God's word, for that is not God's word now which was God's 
w^ord in my father's time." It was at this period (1552) that the 
Articles of Religion of the Church of England were first drawn 
up ; but they did not take their final form until the reign of 
Elizabejh (§ 435). 

415. King Edward and Mary Stuart. — Henry VIII had 
attempted to marry his son Edward to young Queen Mary Stuart, 
daughter of the King of Scotland, but the match had been broken 
off. Edward's guardian now insisted that it should be carried 
out. He invaded Scotland with an army, and attempted to effect 
the marriage by force of arms, at the battle of Pinkie (1547). 

The EngHsh gained a decided victory, but the youthful Queen, 
instead of giving her hand to young King Edward, left the country 
and married the son of the King of France. She will appear with 
melancholy prominence in the reign of EHzabeth. Had Mary 
Queen of Scots married Edward, we should perhaps have been 
spared that tragedy in which she was called to play both the 
leading and the losing part (§§ 446-449). 

416. Renewed Confiscation of Church Property ; Schools 
founded. — The confiscation of such Roman Cathohc church 
property as had been spared was now renewed (§ 404). The result 
of this and of the abandonment of Catholicism was in certain 
respects disastrous to the country. In this general break-up, 
many who had been held in restraint by the old forms of faith 
now went to the other extreme, and rejected all religion. 

Part of the money obtained from the sale of church property 

1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xiii, § 15. 



204 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 547-1 553 

was devoted, mainly through Edward's influence, to the endow- 
irient of upwards of forty grammar schools, besides a number of 
hospitals, in different sections of the country. But for a long 
time the destruction of the monastic schools, poor as they were, 
was a serious blow to the education of the common people. 

417. Edward's London Charities; Christ's HospitaL — Just 
before his death Edward established Christ's Hospital, and re- 
founded and renewed the hospitals of St. Thomas and St. Bar- 
tholomew in London. Thus "he was the founder," says Burnet, 
" of those houses which, by many great additions since that time, 
have risen to be amongst the noblest of Europe." ^ 

Christ's Hospital was, perhaps, the first Protestant charity school 
opened in England ; many more were patterned on it. It is gen- 
erally known as the Blue-Coat School, from the costume of the 
boys, — a relic of the days of Edward VI. This consists of a long 
blue coat, like a monk's gown, reaching to the ankles, girded 
with a broad leathern belt, long, bright yellow stockings, and 
buckled shoes. The boys go bareheaded winter and summer. 

An exciting game of foot-ball, played in the schoolyard in this 
peculiar mediaeval dress, seems strangely in contrast with the 
sights of modern London streets. It is as though the spectator, 
by passing through a gateway, had gone back over three cen- 
turies of time. Coleridge, Lamb, and other noted men of letters 
were educated here, and have left most interesting reminiscences 
of their school life, especially the latter, in his delightful " Essays 
ofElia."2 

418. Effect of Catholicism versus Protestantism. — Speaking 
of the Protestant Reformation, of which Edward VI may be taken 
as a representative, Macaulay remarks that " it is difficult to say 
whether England received most advantage from the Roman 
Catholic religion or from the Reformation. 

"For the union of the Saxon and Norman races, and the 

1 Burnet, History of the Reformation in England. 

2 See Lamb's Essays, " Christ's Hospital." Hospital, so called because intended 
for "poor, fatherless children." The word was then often used in the sense of 
asylum, or " home." The famous old school has recently been removed to the country 
and the ancient building is doomed. Elia (E' li-ah) was Lamb's pseudonym. 



1 547-1 553] 



POLITICAL REACTION 



205 



abolition of slavery, she is chiefly indebted to the influence which 
the priesthood in the Middle Ages exercised over the people ; for 
political and intellectual freedom, and for all the blessings which 
they have brought in their train, she owes most to the great 
rebellion of the people against the priesthood." 

419. Summary. — The establishment of the Protestant faith in 
England, and of a large number of Protestant charity schools 
known as Edward VI's schools, may be regarded as the leading 
events of Edward's brief reign of six years. 



MARY— 1553-1558 

420. Lady Jane Grey claims the Crown. — On the death of 
Edward, Lady Jane Grey, a descendant of Henry VII, and a 
relative of Edward VI, was persuaded by her father-in-law, the 
Duke of Northumberland, to assume the crown, which had been 
left to her by the will of the late King. 

Edward's object in naming Lady Jane was to secure a Protes- 
tant successor, since his elder sister, Mary, was a devout Catholic, 
while from his younger sister, Elizabeth, he seems to have been 
estranged. By birth, though not directly by Henry VIH's 
will, Mary was without doubt the rightful heir.^ She received 

1 Table showing the respective claims of Queen Mary and Lady Jane Grey to^the 
crown. By his last will Henry VIII left the crown to Edward VI, and (in case he 
had no issue) to his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, followed by the issue of his sister 
Mary. Edward VI's will undertook to change this order of succession. 





Henry VH 






I 2 


1 


3 


4 


Arthur, b. i486, Henry Vm 




Margaret 


Mary, m. 


d. 1 502, no issue | 




James V of 


Charles 






Brandon 


Mary, b. EUzabeth, 
1516, d. 1558 b. 1533, 


Edward VI, 


Scotland, 


1 


b. 1538, 


d. 1542 


Frances 


d. 1603 


d. 1553 


1 


Brandon, m. 






Mary Queen of 


Henry Grey 






Scots, b. 1542, 


1 






d. 1587 


Jane Grey, 

m. Lord Guil- 






James VI of 


ford Dudley, 






Scotland and I 


beheaded 






of England, 


1554 






crowned 1603 





2o6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1553-1558 

the support of the country, and Lady Jane Grey and her husband, 
Lord Dudley, were sent to the Tower. 

421. Question of Mary's Marriage; Wyatt's Rebellion (1554). 
— While they were confined there, the question of the Queen's 
marriage came up. Out of several candidates for her hand, Mary 
gave preference to her cousin, Philip II of Spain. Her choice 
was very unpopular, for it was known in England that Philip 
was a selfish and gloomy fanatic, who cared for nothing but the 
advancement of the Roman Cathohc faith. 

An insurrection now broke out, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, the 
object of which was to place the Princess Elizabeth on the throne, 
and thus secure the crown to Protestantism. Lady Jane Grey's 
father was implicated in the rebellion. The movement ended in 
failure, the leaders were executed, and Mary ordered her sister 
Ehzabeth, who was thought to be in the plot, to be seized and 
imprisoned in the Tower (1554). 

A little later, Lady Jane Grey and her husband perished on the 
scaffold. The name JANE, deeply cut in the stone wall of the 
Beauchamp Tower,^ remains as a memorial of the nine days' 
queen. She died at the age of seventeen, an innocent victim of 
the greatness which had been thrust upon her. 

422. Mary marries Philip II of Spain (1554) ; Efforts to 
restore Catholicism. — A few months afterward the royal mar- 
riage was celebrated, but Philip soon found that the air of Eng- 
land had too much freedom in it to suit his delicate constitution, 
and he returned to the more congenial climate of Spain. 

From that time Mary, who was left to rule alone, directed all 
her efforts to the restoration of the Catholic Church. Her policy 
(says Hallam) was acceptable to a large part of the nation.^ She 
repealed the legislation of Henry VIII's and Edward VI's reigns, 
so far as it gave support to Protestantism. She revived the per- ' 
secuting statutes against heretics (§§ 335, 338). The old relations^ 

1 The Beauchamp Tower is part of the Tower of London, On its walls are scores ! 
of names cut by those who were imprisoned in it. 

2 On the other hand, the leaders in Scotland bound themselves by a solemn Cove- 
nant (1557) to crush out all attempts to reestablish the Catholic faith. 



1 553-1 558] POLITICAL REACTION 20/ 

with Rome were resumed. To accomplish her object in sup- 
porting her religion, the Queen resorted to the arguments of the 
dungeon, the rack, and the fagot, and when Bishops Bonner and 
Gardiner slackened their work of persecution and death, Mary, 
half crazed by Philip's desertion, urged them not to stay their 
hands. 

423. Devices for reading the Bible. — The penalty for reading 
the English Scriptures, or for offering Protestant prayers, was 
death. In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin says that one of 
his ancestors, who lived in England in Mary's reign, adopted the 
following expedient for giving his family religious instruction. He 
fastened an open Bible with strips of tape on the under side of a 
stool. When he wished to read it aloud he placed the stool upside 
down on his knees, and turned the pages under the tape as he 
read them. One of the children stood watching at the door to 
give the alarm if any one approached ; in that case, the stool was 
set quickly on its feet again on the floor, so that nothing could 
be seen. 

424. Religious Toleration unknown in Mary's Age. — Mary 
would doubtless have bravely endured for her faith the full meas- 
ure of suffering which she inflicted. Her state of mind was that 
of all who then held strong convictions. Each party believed it 
a duty to convert or exterminate the other, and the alternative 
offered to the heretic was to " turn or burn," 

Sir Thomas More, who gave his life as a sacrifice to conscience 
in Henry's reign (§ 403), was eager to put Tyndale to the torture 
for translating the Bible. Cranmer (§ 414), who perished at 
Oxford (1556), had been zealous in sending to the flames those 
who differed from him. Even Latimer (§ 413), who died bravely 
at the stake, exhorting his companion Ridley (1555) "to be of 
good cheer and play the man, since they would light such a 
candle in England that day as in God's grace should not be put 
out," had abetted the kindling of slow fires under men as honest 
and determined as himself but on the opposite side. 

In like spirit Queen Mary kept Smithfield ablaze with martyrs, 
whose blood was the seed of Protestantism. Yet persecution 



208 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 553-1 558 

under Mary never reached the proportions that it did on the 
continent. At the most, but a few hundred died in England for 
the sake of their religion, while Philip 11, during the last of his 
reign, covered Holland with the graves of Protestants, tortured 
and put to cruel deaths, or buried alive, by tens of thousands. 

425. Mary's Death (1558). — But Mary's career was short. 
She died (1558) near the close of an inglorious war with France, 
which ended in the fall of Calais, the last English possession on the 
continent (§ 346). It was a great blow to her pride, and a serious 
humiliation to the country. " After my death," she said, " you 
will find Calais written on my heart." Could she have foreseen the 
future, her grief would have been greater still. For with the end 
of her reign the Pope lost all power in England, never to regain it. 

426. Mary deserving of Pity rather than Hatred. — Mary's 
name has come down to us associated with an epithet expressive 
of the utmost abhorrence (§ 394) ; but she deserves pity* rather 
than hatred. Her cruelty was the cruelty of sincerity, never, as 
was her father's, the result of indifference or caprice. A httle 
book of prayers which she left, soiled by constant use, and 
stained with many tears, tells the story of her broken and dis- 
appointed life. 

Separated from her mother, the unfortunate Catharine of Aragon, 
when she was only sixteen, she was ill-treated by Anne Boleyn 
and hated by her father. Thus the springtime of her youth was 
blighted. 

Her marriage brought her no happiness ; sickly, ill-favored, 
childless, unloved, the poor woman spent herself for naught. Her 
first great mistake was that she resolutely turned her face toward 
the past; her second, that she loved Philip of Spain (§ 422) with 
all her heart, soul, and strength, and so, out of devotion to a 
bigot, did a bigot's work, and earned that execration which 
never fails to be a bigot's reward.-^ 

427. Summary. — This reign should be looked upon as a 
period of reaction. The temporary check which Mary gave to 

1 " If any person may be excused for hating the Reformation, it was Mary." 
— Froude. 



1 553-1 558] POLITICAL REACTION 209 

Protestantism deepened and strengthened it. Nothing builds 
up a religious faith like martyrdom, and the next reign showed 
that every heretic that Mary had burned helped to make at 
least a hundred more. 



ELIZABETH— 1558-1603 

428. Accession of Elizabeth. — Elizabeth was the daughter of 
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (§401). At the time of Mary's 
death she was living in seclusion in Hatfield House, near London, 
spending most of her time in studying the Greek and Latin 
authors. When the news was brought to her, she was deeply 
moved, and exclaimed, "It is the Lord's doings ; it is marvellous 
in our eyes." Five days afterwards she went up to London by 
that road over which the last time she had travelled it she was 
being carried a prisoner to the Tower (§ 421). 

429. Difficulty of Elizabeth's Position. — An act of ParKa- 
ment declared Elizabeth to be the true and lawful heir to the 
crown 1 (§ 407) ; but her position was full of difficulty, if not 
absolute peril. Mary Stuart of Scotland, now by marriage Queen 
of France,^ claimed the English crown through descent from 
Henry VII, on the ground that Elizabeth, as daughter of Anne 
Boleyn, was not lawfully entitled to the throne, the Pope never 
having recognized Henry's second marriage. Both France and 
Rome supported this claim. 

On the other hand, Philip II of Spain favored Elizabeth, but 
solely because he hoped to marry her and annex her kingdom to 
his dominions. Scotland was divided between two religious fac- 
tions, and its attitude as an independent kingdom could hardly be 
called friendly. Ireland was a nest of desperate rebels, ready to 
join any attack on an EngHsh sovereign. 

430. Religious Parties. — But more dangerous than all, Eng- 
land was divided in its rehgion. In the north, many noble 

1 See genealogical table on page 205. 

2 After Elizabeth, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, stood next in order of succession, 
so far as birth could give her that right. See table on page 205. 



2IO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1558-1603 

families stood by the old faith, and hoped to see the Pope's 
power restored. In the towns of the southeast, a majority 
favored the Protestant Church of England as it had been 
organized under Edward VI. 

Besides these two great parties there were two more, who made 
up in zeal and determination what they lacked in numbers. One 
was the Jesuits ; the other, the Puritans. The Jesuits were a 
new Roman Catholic order, banded together to support the 
Church and to destroy heresy; openly or secretly their agents 
penetrated every country; it was beheved that they hesitated 
at nothing to gain their ends. 

The Puritans were Protestants who, Hke John Calvin of Geneva 
and John Knox of Edinburgh, were bent on cleansing or "purify- 
ing^^ the reformed faith from every vestige of Catholicism. Many 
of them were what the rack and the stake had naturally made 
them, — hard, fearless, narrow, bitter. 

In Scotland they had got entire possession of the government ; 
in England they were steadily gaining ground. They were ready 
to recognize the Queen as head of the State Church, they even 
wished that all persons should be compelled to worship as the 
Government prescribed, but they protested against such a church 
as Elizabeth and the bishops then maintained. 

431. The Queen's Choice of Counsellors. — Her policy from 
the beginning was one of compromise. In order to conciliate 
the CathoHc party, she retained eleven of her sister Mary's 
counsellors; But she added to them Sir William Cecil (Lord 
Burleigh), who was her chief adviser ; ^ Sir Nicholas Bacon, and, 
later, Sir Francis Walsingham, with others who were favorable to 
the reformed faith. 

On his appointment, Elizabeth said to Cecil, "This judgment 
I have of you, that you will not be corrupted with any gifts, that 
you will be faithful to the State, and that without respect to my 
private will you will givey me that counsel which you think best." 
Cecil served the Queen until his death, forty years afterward. 
The almost implicit obedience with which EHzabeth followed his 

1 See Macaulay's fine essay on Cecil (Ses'il), Lord Burleigh. 



1558-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 211 

advice sufficiently proves that he was the real power not only 
behind, but generally above, the throne. 

432. The Coronation (1559). — The bishops were Roman 
Catholic, and Elizabeth found it difficult to get one to perform 
the coronation services. At length the Bishop of Carlisle con- 
sented, but only on condition that the Queen should take the 
ancient form of coronation oath, by which she virtually bound 
herself to support the Church of Rome.^ To this Elizabeth 
agreed, and having consulted her astrologer. Dr. Dee, to fix a 
lucky -day for the ceremony, she was crowned by his advice on 
Sunday (Jan. 15, 1559). 

433. Changes in the* Church Service; Religious Legislation 
(1559). — The late Queen Mary, besides having repealed the legis- 
lation of the two preceding reigns, in so far as it was opposed to 
her own rehgious convictions (§ 422), had restored the Roman 
Catholic Latin Prayer-Book (§414). At Elizabeth's coronation 
a petition was presented stating that it was the custom to release 
a certain number of prisoners on such occasions. The petitioners, 
therefore, begged her majesty to set at liberty the four evangel- 
ists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and, also the apostle Paul, 
who had been for some time shut up in a strange language. The 
English Service-Book, with some slight changes, was accordingly 
reinstated, and Parliament repealed the laws respecting religion 
passed under the late Queen Mary. 

A bill was soon after passed (1559) (the third Act of Uni- 
formity [§ 414]) which required all clergymen, under penalty of 
imprisonment for hfe, to use that Service-Book and no other. 
The same act imposed a heavy fine on all persons who failed to 
attend the Church of England on Sundays or holidays. 

At that time Church and State were supposed to be insepa- 
rable. No country in Europe, not even Protestant Germany, 
could then conceive the idea of their existing apart. Whoever, 

1 By this oath, every Enghsh sovereign from WilUam the Conqueror to Eliza- 
beth, and even as late as James II, with the single exception of Edward VI, swore 
to " preserve religion in the same state as did Edward the Confessor." This was 
changed to support Protestantism in 16S8. 



212 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1558-1603 

therefore, refused to sustain the established form of worship was 
looked upon as a rebel against the government. 

To try such rebels, a special court was organized by Elizabeth 
(1583), called the High Commission Court.^ By it many Catho- 
lics were tortured and imprisoned for persisting in their allegiance 
to the Pope. About two hundred priests and Jesuits were put to 
death. A number of Puritans, also, were executed for seditious 
publications, while others were imprisoned or banished. 

434. Act of Supremacy (1559). — No sooner was the Queen's 
accession announced to the Pope than he declared her illegitimate 
(§401), and ordered her to lay aside her crown and submit herself 
entirely to his guidance. Such a demand was a signal for battle. 
However much attached the larger part of the nation, especially 
the country people, may have been to the religion of their fathers, 
yet they intended to support the Queen. 

The temper of Parliament manifested itself in the immediate 
reenactment of the Act of Supremacy. It was essentially the 
same, "though with its edge a little blunted," as that which, 
under Henry, had freed England from the dominion of Rome 
(§ 401). It declared Elizabeth not "supreme head" but 
" supreme governor " of the Church. Later, the act was made 
more stringent (1563). 

To this act, every member of the House of Commons was 
obliged to subscribe; thus all CathoHcs were excluded from 
among them. The Lords, however, not being an elective body, 
were excused from the obligation. 

435. The Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) ; the Queen's Religion. 
— Half a year later, the rehgious behef of the EngHsh Church, 
which had been first formulated under Edward VI (§414)? was 
revised and reduced to the Thirty-Nine Articles which consti- 
tute it at the present time.^ But the real value of the religious 

1 High Commission Court : so called, because originally certain church dignita- 
ries were appointed commissioners to inquire into heresies and kindred matters. 
See, too, Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xiii, § 15. 

2 By the Clerical Subscription Act (1866), all that is now required, even of the 
English clergy, is a general declaration of assent to the Thirty-Nine Articles and the 
Prayer-Book. 



1 558-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 213 

revolution which was taking place did not lie in the substitution 
of one creed for another, but in the new spirit of inquiry, and 
the new freedom of thought which that change awakened. 

As for Elizabeth herself, she seems to have had no deep and 
abiding convictions on these matters. Her education and her 
poHtical interests made her favor Protestantism, but to the end 
of her hfe she kept up some Catholic forms. A cmcifix, with 
lighted candles in front of it, hung in her private chapel, before 
which she prayed to the Virgin as fervently as her sister Mary 
had ever done. 

436. The Nation halting between Two Opinions. — In this 
double course she represented the majority of the nation, which 
hesitated about committing itself fully to either side. Men were 
not wanting who were ready to lay down their lives for conscience' 
sake, but they were by no means numerous. 

Many sympathized at heart with the notorious Vicar of Bray, 
who kept his pulpit under the whole or some part of the suc- 
cessive reigns of Henry, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, changing 
his theology with each change of rule. When taunted as a turn- 
coat, he replied, " Not so, for I have always been true to my 
principles, which are to live and die Vicar of Bray." ^ 

Though there was nothing morally noble in such halting between 
two opinions, and facing both ways, yet it saved England for the 
time from that worst of all calamities, a religious civil war, such 
as rent France in pieces, drenched her fair fields with the blood 
of Catholics and Protestants, split Germany and Italy into petty 
states, and ended in Spain in the triumph of the Inquisition and 
intellectual death. ^ 

437. The Question of the Queen's Marriage. — EHzabeth 
showed the same tact with regard to marriage that she did with 
regard to religion. Her first Parliament, realizing that the welfare 

1 " For this as law I will maintain 

Until my dying day, sir, 
That whatsoever king shall reign, 
I'll be Vicar of Bray, sir." 

2 Gardiner's History of England. 



214 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1558-1603 

of the country depended largely on whom the Queen should 
marry, begged her to consider the question of taking a husband. 
Her reply was that she had resolved to live and die a maiden 
queen. When further pressed, she returned answers that, like 
the ancient oracles, might be interpreted either way. 

The truth was, that Elizabeth saw the difficulty of her position 
better than any one else. The choice of her heart at that time 
would have been the Protestant Earl of Leicester, but she knew 
that to take him as consort would be to incur the enmity of the 
great Catholic powers of Europe. On the other hand, if she 
accepted a Catholic, she would inevitably alienate a large and 
influential number of her own subjects. 

In this dilemma she resolved to keep both sides in a state of 
hopeful expectation. Philip II of Spain, who had married her 
sister Mary, made overtures to Elizabeth. She kept him waiting 
in uncertainty until at last his ambassador lost all patience, 
and declared that the Queen was possessed with ten thousand 
devils. 

Later, the Duke of Anjou, a son of Henry II of France, pro- 
posed. He was favorably received, but the country became so 
alarmed at the prospect of having a Catholic king, that Stubbs, a 
Puritan lawyer, published a coarse and violent pamphlet denounc- 
ing the marriage.^ For this attack his right hand was cut off ; 
as it fell, says an eye-witness,^ he seized his hat with the other 
hand, and waved it, shouting, " God save Queen Elizabeth ! " 
That act was an index to the popular feeling. Men stood by the 
Crown even when they condemned its policy, determined, at all 
hazards, to preserve the unity of the nation. 

438. The Queen a Coquette. — During all this time the court 
buzzed with whispered scandals. Elizabeth was by nature a con- 
firmed coquette. The Earl of Leicester, the Earl of Essex, and 
Sir Walter Raleigh were by turns her favorites. Over her relations 

1 Stubbs' pamphlet was entitled " The Discovery of the Gaping Gulf, wherein 
England is likely to be swallowed up by another French marriage, unless the Lords 
forbid the bans by letting her see the sin and punishment thereof." 

■^ Camden's Annals, 1581. 



1558-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 215 

with the first there hangs the terrible shadow of the murder of 
his wife, the beautiful Amy Robsart.^ 

Her vanity was as insatiable as it was ludicrous. She issued a 
proclamation forbidding any one to sell her picture, lest it should 
fail to do her justice. She was greedy of flattery even when long 
past sixty, and there was a sting of truth in the letter which Mary 
Queen of Scots wrote her, saying, " Your aversion to marriage 
proceeds from your not wishing to lose the liberty of compelling 
people to make love to you." 

439. Violence of Temper ; Crooked Policy. — In temper, Eliza- 
beth was arbitrary, fickle, and passionate. When her blood was 
up, she would swear like a trooper, spit on a courtier's new velvet 
suit, beat her maids of honor, and box Essex's ears. She wrote 
abusive, "and even profane, letters to high church dignitaries,^ and 
openly insulted the wife of Archbishop Parker, because she did 
not believe in a married clergy. 

The age in which EHzabeth lived was preeminently one of craft 
and intrigue. The kings of that day endeavored to get by fraud 
what their less polished predecessors got by force. At this game 
of double dealing Elizabeth had few equals- and no superior. So 
profound was her dissimulation that her most confidential advisers 
never felt quite sure that she was not deceiving them. In her 
diplomatic relations she never hesitated at a he if it would serve 
her purpose, and when the falsehood was discovered, she always 
had another and more plausible one ready to take its place. 

440. Her Knowledge of Men; the Monopolies. — The Queen's 
real ability lay in her instinctive perception of the needs of the 
age, and in her power of self-adjustment to them. Elizabeth 
never made pubHc opinion, but watched it and followed it. She 
knew an able man at sight, and had the happy faculty of attach- 
ing such men to her service. By nature she was both irresolute 
and impulsive ; but her sense was good and her judgment clear. 

1 See the De Quadra Letter in Froude's England. 

2 For the famous letter to the bishop of Ely attributed to Elizabeth, see Hallam, 
Froude, and Creighton ; but the Dictionary of National Biography (" Elizabeth ") 
calls it a forgery. 



2l6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1558-1603 

She could tell when she was well advised, and although she fumed 
and blustered, she yielded. 

It has been said that the next best thing to having a good rule 
is to know when to break it. Elizabeth always knew when to 
change her policy. No matter how obstinate she was, she saw 
the point where obstinacy became dangerous. In order to enrich 
Raleigh and her numerous other favorites, she granted them the 
exclusive right to deal in certain articles. These privileges were 
called "monopolies." 

They finally came to comprise almost everything that could be 
bought or sold, from French wines to second-hand shoes. The 
effect was to raise prices so as to make even the common neces- 
saries of life excessively dear. A great outcry finally arose ; 
Parliament requested the Queen to abolish the " monopolies " ; 
she hesitated, but when she saw their determined attitude she 
gracefully granted the petition. 

441. The Adulation of the Court. — No EngHsh sovereign was 
so popular or so praised. The great writers and the great men of 
that day vied with each other in their compliments to her beauty, 
her wisdom, and her wit. She lived in an atmosphere of splendor, 
of pleasure, and of adulation. Her reign was full of pageants, 
progresses,^ and feasts, like those which Scott describes in his 
delightful novel, " Kenilworth." 

Spenser composed his poem, the "Faerie Queen," as he said, 
to extol "the glorious person of our sovereign Queen," whom he 
blasphemously compared to the Godhead. Shakespeare is reported 
to have written a play ^ for her amusement, and in his " Midsum- 
mer Night's Dream " he addresses her as the " fair vestal in the 
West." The common people were equally full of enthusiasm, and 
loved to sing and shout the praises of their "good Queen Bess." 
After her death at Richmond, when her body was being conveyed 
down the- Thames to Westminster, an extravagant eulogist declared 
that the very fishes that followed the funeral barge "wept out 
their eyes and swam blind after ! " 

1 Progresses : state-journeys made with great pomp and splendor. 

2 The Merry Wives of Windsor. 



1 558-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 21/ 

442. Grandeur of the Age; More's "Utopia." — The reign of 
Elizabeth was, in fact, Europe's grandest age. It was a time when 
everything was bursting into life and color. The world had sud- 
denly grown larger ; it had opened toward the east in the revival 
of classical learning ; it had opened toward the west, and dis- 
closed a continent of unknown extent and unimaginable resources. 

About twenty years after Cabot had discovered the mainland of 
America (§ 387), Sir Thomas More (§§ 391, 403) wrote a remark- 
able work of fiction, in Latin (15 16), called " Utopia " ^ (the Land 
of Nowhere). In it he pictured an ideal commonwealth, where 
all men were equal; where none were poor; where perpetual 
peace prevailed ; where there was absolute freedom of thought ; 
where all were contented and happy. It was, in fact, the " Golden 
Age " c-eme back to earth again. 

Such a book, now translated into English ( 1 5 5 1 ) , suited such a 
time, for Elizabeth's reign was one of adventure, of poetry, of 
luxury, of rapidly increasing wealth. When men looked across 
the Atlantic, their imaginations were stimulated, and the most 
extravagant hopes did not appear too good to be true. Courtiers 
and adventurers dreamed of fountains of youth in Florida, of silver 
mines in Brazil, of rivers in Virginia, whose pebbles were precious 
stones.^ Thus all were dazzled with visions of sudden riches and 
renewed life. 

443. Change in Mode of Life. — England, too, was undergoing 
transformation. Once, a nobleman's residence had been simply a 
square stone fortress, built for safety only ; but now that the land 
was at peace and the old feudal barons destroyed (§§ 368, 380), 
there was no need of such precaution. Men were no longer con- 
tent to live shut up in sombre strongholds, surrounded with moats 
of stagnant water, or in meanly built houses, where the smoke 

1 Utopia was published in Latin about 15 16. It was first translated into 
English in 15 51. 

2 « Why, man, all their dripping-pans [in Virginia] are pure gould ; ... all the 
prisoners they take are feterd in gold ; and for rubies and diamonds, they goe forth 
on holydayes and gather 'hem by the sea-shore, to hang on their children's coates." — 
Eastward Hoe, a play by John Marston and others, " as it was playd in the Black- 
friers [Theatre] by the Children of her Maiesties Revels." (1603 ?) 



2l8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 558-1603' 

curled around the rafters for want of chimneys by which to escape, 
while the wind whistled through the unglazed latticed windows. 

Mansions and stately manor-houses Hke Hatfield, Knowle, and' 
the "Bracebridge Hall" of Washington Irving,^ rose instead of 
castles, and hospitahty, not exclusion, became the prevailing cus- 
tom. The introduction of chimneys brought the cheery comfort 
of the English fireside, while among the wealthy, carpets, tapestry, 
and silver plate took the place of floors strewed with rushes, of 
bare walls, and of tables covered with pewter or wooden dishes. 

An old writer, lamenting these innovations, says : " When our 
houses were built of willow, then we had oaken men ; but, now 
that our houses are made of oak, our men have not only become 
willow, but many are altogether of straw, which is a sore affliction." 

444. An Age of Adventure and of Daring. — But they were 
not all of straw, for that was a period of daring enterprise. 
Sir Walter Raleigh planted the first English colony, which the 
maiden Queen named Virginia, in honor of herself. It proved 
unsuccessful, but he said, '' I shall live to see it an English nation 
yet" ; and he did. 

Frobisher explored the coasts of Labrador and Greenland. Sir 
Francis Drake sailed into the Pacific, spent a winter in or near 
the harbor of San Francisco, and ended his voyage by circum- 
navigating the globe. ^ In the East, London merchants had 
founded the East India Company, the beginning of English 
dominion in Asia ; while in Holland, Sir Philip Sydney gave his 
hfe -blood for the cause of Protestantism. 

445. Literature. — It was an age, too, not only of brave deeds 
but of high thoughts. Spenser, Shakespeare, and Jonson were 
making English literature the noblest of all literatures. Francis 
Bacon, son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, of Elizabeth's council, was 
giving a wholly different direction to education. He taught men 
in his new philosophy, that in order to use the forces of nature 
they must learn by observation and experiment to know nature 
herself; "for," said he, "knowledge is power." 

1 Aston Hall, in the vicinity of Birmingham, is believed to be the original of 
Irving'S " Bracebridge Hall." 2 See Map No. 13, facing page 218. 




8TRUTHERS i CO. N.' 



Showing the English discoveries in America in the 15th, i6th, and 17th centuries, 
with a part of Drake's voyage round the globe in 1577-1579. 



1 558-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 219 

446. Mary Queen of Scots claims the Crown (1561). — For 
England it was also an age of great and constant peril. Eliza- 
beth's entire reign was undermined with plots against her life and 
against the hfe of the Protestant faith. No sooner was one con- 
spiracy detected and suppressed than a new one sprang up. 
Perhaps the most formidable of these was the effort which Mary 
Stuart (Queen of Scots) made to supplant her EngHsh rival. 
Shortly after Elizabeth's accession, Mary's husband, the King of 
France, died. She returned to Scotland ( 1 5 6 1 ) and there assumed 
the Scottish crown, at the same time asserting her right to the 
English throne.^ 

447. Mary marries Darnley ; his Murder. — A few years later 
she married Lord Darnley, who became jealous of Mary's Italian 
private secretary, Rizzio,^ and, with the aid of accomplices, seized 
him in her presence, dragged him into an ante-chamber, and there 
stabbed him. 

The next year Darnley was murdered. It was believed that 
Mary and the Earl of Bothwell, whom she soon after married, 
were guilty of the crime. The people rose and cast her into 
prison, and forced her to abdicate in favor of her infant son, 
James VI. 

448. Mary escapes to England (1568) ; Plots against Eliza- 
beth and Protestantism. — Mary escaped and fled to England. 
EHzabeth, fearing she might pass over to France and stir up war, 
confined her in Bolton Castle.^ During her imprisonment else- 
where she became implicated in a plot for assassinating the English 
Queen (who had meditated her death) and seizing the reins of 
government in behalf of herself and the Jesuits. 

It was a time when the Protestant faith seemed everywhere 
marked for destruction. In France evil counsellors had induced 
the King to order a massacre of the Reformers, and on St. Bar- 
tholomew's Day thousands were slain. The Pope, misinformed 

1 See table, § 420. Mary's claim was based on the fact that the Pope had never 
♦ recognized Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother, as lawful, 

and that she was recognized as a successor to the crown by the will of Henry VIII. 

2 Rizzio (Rit'se-o). 3 Bolton Castle, Yorkshire. 



?20 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [i 558-1603 

in the matter, ordered a solemn thanksgiving for the slaughter, 
and struck a gold medal to commemorate it.^ Philip of Spain, 
whose cold, impassive face scarcely ever relaxed into a smile, 
now laughed outright. Still more recently, William the Silent, who 
had driven out the Catholics from a part of the Netherlands,^ had 
be^n assassinated by a Jesuit fanatic. 

449. Elizabeth beheads Mary (1587) Under these circum- 
stances, Elizabeth, aroused to a sense of her danger, reluctantly 
signed the Scottish Queen's death warrant, and Mary, after nine- 
teen years' imprisonment, was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle.^ 

As soon as the news of her execution was brought to the Queen, 
she became alarmed at the pohtical consequences the act might 
have in Europe. With her usual duplicity she bitterly upbraided 
the minister who had advised it, and throwing Davidson, her 
secretary, into the Tower, fined him ;^ 10,000, the payment of 
which reduced him to beggary.* 

Not satisfied with this, Ehzabeth even had the effrontery to 
write a letter of condolence to Mary's son (James VI), declaring 
that his mother had been beheaded by mistake ! Yet facts prove 
that not only had Elizabeth determined to put Mary to death, — 
a measure whose justice is still vehemently disputed, — but she 
had suggested to her keeper that it might be expedient to have 
her privately murdered. 

450. The Spanish Armada. — Mary was hardly under ground 
when a new and greater danger threatened the country. At her 
death, the Scottish Queen, disgusted with her mean-spirited son 
James,^ bequeathed her dominions, including her claim to the 
EngHsh throne, to Philip II of Spain. He was then the most 
powerful sovereign in Europe, ruling over a territory equal to that 
of the Roman Empire in its greatest extent. 

Philip resolved to invade England, conquer it, annex it to his 

1 Seethe Leading Facts of French History. 

2 Netherlands, or Low Countries : now represented in great part by Belgium and 
Holland. j 

3 Fotheringay Castle, Northamptonshire, demolished by James I. 
■* ;^ 1 0,000 : a sum probably equal to more than ^300,000 now. 

5 James had deserted his mother, and accepted a pension from Elizabeth. 




THE SPANISH ARMADA 



1 558-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 221 

own possessions, and restore the religion of Rome. To accom- 
plish this, he began fitting out the " Invincible Armada," ^ an 
immense fleet, intended to carry twenty thousand soldiers, and to 
receive on its way reinforcements of thirty thousand more from 
the Spanish army in the Netherlands. But in the end, the King 
of Spain gave the command of the Armada to a man who openly 
declared that he knew nothing about the sea and nothing about war. 

451. Drake's Expedition; Sailing of the Armada (1588). — 
Sir Francis Drake determined to check Philip's preparations. He 
heard that the enemy's fleet was gathered at Cadiz. He sailed 
there, and in spite of all opposition effectually " singed the 
Spanish King's beard," as he said, by burning and otherwise 
destroying more than a hundred ships. 

This~so crippled the expedition that it had to be given up for 
that year, but the next summer a vast armament set sail. Motley ^ 
says it consisted of ten squadrons, of more than one hundred and 
thirty ships, carrying upwards of three thousand cannon. 

The impending peril thoroughly roused England. Both Cath- 
olics and Protestants rose to defend their country and their Queen. 

452. The Battle, 1588. — The English «ea forces under Lord 
High Admiral Howard, a stanch CathoUc, and Sir Francis Drake, 
second in command, were assembled at Plymouth, watching for 
the enemy. When the long-looked-for fleet came in sight, beacon 
fires were lighted on the hills to give the alarm. 

" For swift to east and swift to west the ghastly war-flame spread ; 
High on St. Michael's Mount it shone : it shone on Beachy Head. 
Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern shire, 
Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire." ^ 

The enemy's ships moved steadily towards the coast in the form 
of a crescent seven miles across ; but Howard, Drake, Hawkins, 
Raleigh, and other noted captains, were ready to receive them. 
With their fast-sailing cruisers they sailed around the unwieldy 
Spanish war- ships, firing four shots to their one, and " harassing 

1 Armada : an armed fleet. 

2 See Motley's United Netherlands, II, 465 ; compare Froude's England, XII, 
466, and Laughton's Armada (State Papers), xl-lvii. 3 Macaulay's Armada. 



222 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1558-1603 

them as a swarm of wasps would a bear." Several of the enemy's 
vessels were captured, and one blown up. At last the commander 
sailed for Calais to repair damages and take a fresh start. The 
English followed. When night came on, Drake sent eight blazing 
fire-ships to drift down among the Armada as it lay at anchor. 
Thoroughly alarmed at the prospect of being burned where they 
lay, the Spaniards cut their cables and made sail for the north. 

453. Destruction of the Armada, 1588; Elizabeth at Tilbury, 
and at St. Paul's. — They were hotly pursued by the English, 
who, having lost but a single vessel in the fight, might have cut 
them to pieces, had not the Queen's suicidal economy stinted 
them in both powder and provisions. Meanwhile the Spanish 
fleet kept moving northward. The wind increased to a gale, the 
gale to a furious storm. The commander of the Armada attempted 
to go around Scotland and return home that way ; but ship after 
ship was driven ashore and wrecked on the wild and rocky coast 
of Western Ireland. On one strand, less than five miles long, 
over a thousand corpses were counted. Those who escaped the 
waves met death by the hands of the inhabitants. Of the magnifi- 
cent fleet which had sailed so proudly from Spain only fifty-three 
vessels returned, and they were but half manned by exhausted 
crews stricken by pestilence and death. Thus ended Philip's 
boasted attack on England. 

When all danger was past Elizabeth went to Tilbury, on the 
Thames below London, to review the troops collected there to 
defend the capital. " I know," said she, " that I have but the 
feeble body of a woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of a 
king of England too." Unhappily the parsimonious sovereign had 
half starved her brave sailors, and large numbers of them came 
home only to die. None the less Elizabeth went with solemn pomp 
to St. Paul's to offer thanks for the great victory, which was com- 
memorated by a medal bearing this inscription : " God blew with 
his winds, and they were scattered." From the date of the defeat 
of the Armada England gradually rose, under the leadership of 
such illustrious commanders as Drake, Blake, and Nelson, until 
she became the greatest sea power in the world (§§ 511, 605). 



1 558-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 223 

454. Insurrection in Ireland (1595). — A few years later, a 
terrible rebellion broke out in Ireland. From its partial conquest 
in the time of Henry II (§ 209), the condition of that island con- 
tinued to be deplorable! First, the chiefs of the native tribes 
fought constantly among themselves ; next, the Enghsh attempted 
to force the Protestant religion upon a people who detested it; 
lastly, the greed and misgovernment of the rulers put a climax 
to these miseries. The country became, as Raleigh said, "a 
commonwealth of common woe." 

Under Elizabeth a war of extermination began, so merciless 
that the Queen herself declared that if the work of destruction 
went on much longer, "she should have nothing left but ashes 
and corpses to rule over." Then, but not till then, the starving 
remnant of the people submitted, and England gained a barren 
victory which has ever since carried with it its own curse. 

455. The First Poor Law (1601). — In Elizabeth's reign the 
first effective English poor law was passed. It required each 
parish to make provision for such paupers as were unable to work, 
while the able-bodied were compelled to labor for their own 
support. This measure reheved much of the distress which had 
prevailed during the two previous reigns, and forms the basis of 
the law in force at the present time (§ 646). 

456. Elizabeth's Death (1603). — The death of the great 
Queen (1603) was as sad as her Hfe had been brilliant. Her 
favorite, Essex, Shakespeare's intimate friend, had been beheaded 
for an attempted rebelHon against her power. From that time 
she grew, as she said, " heavy hearted." Her old friends and 
counsellors were dead, her people no longer welcomed her with 
their former enthusiasm. She kept a sword always within reach. 
Treason had grown so common that Hentzner, a German traveller 
in England, said that he counted three hundred heads of persons, 
who had suffered death for this crime, exposed on London 
Bridge. Elizabeth felt that her sun was nearly set; gradually 
her strength declined ; she ceased to leave her palace, and sat 
muttering to herself all day long, "Mortua, sed non sepulta ! " 
(Dead, but not buried). 



224 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1558-1603 

At length she lay propped up on cushions on the floor/ " tired," 
as she said, "of reigning and tired of life." In that sullen mood 
she departed to join that silent majority whose realm under earth 
is bounded by the sides of the grave. " Four days afterward," 
says a writer of that time, " she was forgotten." 

One may see her tomb, with her full-length, recumbent effigy, 
in the north aisle of Henry VII's Chapel (Westminster Abbey), 
and in the opposite aisle the tomb and effigy of her old rival and 
enemy, Mary Queen of Scots (§ 449). The sculptured features of 
both look placid. "After life's fitful fever they sleep well." 

457. Summary. — The Elizabethan period was in every respect 
remarkable. It was great in its men of thought, and equally great 
in its men of action. It was greatest, however, in its successful 
resistance to the armed hand of religious oppression. Protestant- 
ism was formally and finally established in England under the 
National Church. 

The defeat of the Armada gave renewed courage to the cause 
of the Reformation, not only in England, but in every Protestant 
country in Europe. It meant that a movement had begun which, 
though it might be temporarily hindered, would at last secure to 
all civilized countries the right of private judgment and of liberty 
of conscience. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE TUDOR PERIOD (1485-1603) 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — 
IV. LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUSTRY 
AND COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT 

458. Absolutism of the Crown ; Free Trade; the Post-Office. — Dur- 
ing a great part of the Tudor period the power of the Crown was 
well-nigh absolute. Four causes contributed to this : i. The destruc- 
tion of a very large part of the feudal nobility by the Wars of the 

1 See Delaroche's fine picture, The Death of Queen Elizabeth. 



1485-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 225 

Roses.^ 2. The removal of many of the higher clergy from the 
House of Lords.2 3. The creation of a new nobilitj' dependent on 
the king. 4. The desire of the great body of the people for '-peace 
at any price." 

Under Henry VII and Elizabeth the courts of Star-Chamber and 
High Commission exercised arbitrary power, and often inflicted cruel 
punishments for offences against the Government, and for heresy or 
the denial of the religious supremacy of the sovereign, 

Henry VII established a treaty of free trade, called the "Great 
Intercourse," between England and the Netherlands. Under Eliza- 
beth the first postmaster-general entered upon his duties, though the 
post-ofBce was not fuUy established until the reign of her successor. 

RELIGION 

459. Establishment of the Protestant Church of England. — Henry 
VIII suppressed the Roman Catholic monasteries, seized their prop- 
ert}', and ended by declaring the Church of England independent of 
the Pope. Thenceforth, he assumed the title of Head of the National 
Church. Under Edward VI Protestantism was established by law. 
Mar}^ led a reaction in favor of Romanism, but her successor, Eliza- 
beth, reinstated the Protestant form of worship. Under Elizabeth 
the Puritans demanded that the National Church be purified from all 
Romish forms and doctrines. Severe laws were passed under Eliza- 
beth for the punishment of both Catholics and Puritans, all persons 
being required to conform to the Church of England. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS 

460. Arms and Armor ; the Navy. — Though gunpowder had been 
in use for two centuries, yet full suits of armor were still worn during 
a great part of the period. An improved match-lock gun, with the 
pistol, an Italian invention, and heavy cannon were introduced. Until 
the death of Henry VIII foot-soldiers continued to be armed with the 
long-bow : but under Edward Yl that weapon was superseded by 

1 In the last Parliament before the Wars of the Roses (1454) there were toft^'-three 
temporal peers; at the beginning of the reign of Henr\- ^'11 (T4S5) there were only 
twenty-nine. 

2 Out of a total of barely ninety peers. Henn.- "\'III. by the suppression of the 
monasteries, removed upwards of thirty-six abbots and priors. He, however, added 
five new bishops, which made the House of Lords number about fifty-nine. 



226 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1485-1603 

firearms. The principal wars of the period were with Scotland, 
France, and Spain, the last being by far the most important, and 
ending with the destruction of the Armada. 

Henry VIII established a permanent navy, and built several vessels 
of upwards of one thousand tons register. The largest men-of-war 
under Elizabeth carried forty cannon and a crew of several hundred 



LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART 

461. Schools. — The revival of learning gave a great impetus to 
education. The money which had once been given to monasteries was 
now spent in building schools, colleges, and hospitals. Dean Colet 
established the free grammar school of St. Paul's, several colleges 
were endowed at Oxfo^'d and Cambridge, and Edward VI opened 
upwards of forty charity schools in different parts of the country, 
of which the Blue-Coat School, London, is one of the best known. 
Improved text-books were prepared for the schools, and Lilye's " Latin 
Grammar," first published in 15 13 for the use of Dean Colet's school, 
continued a standard work for over three hundred years. 

462. Literature; the Theatre. — The latter part of the period 
deserves the name of the " Golden Age of English Literature." 
More, Sydney, Hooker, Jewell were the leading prose writers ; while 
Spenser, Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare represented the poets. 

In 1574 a public theatre was erected in London, in which Shake- 
speare was a stockholder. Not very long after, a second was opened. 
At both these (the Globe and the Blackfriars) the great dramatist 
appeared in his own plays, and in such pieces as "King John," 
" Richard the Third," and the Henrys, he taught his countrymen 
more of the true spirit and meaning of the nation's history than 
they had ever learned before. His historical plays are chiefly based 
on Holinshed and Hall, two chroniclers of the period. 

463. Progress of Science ; Superstitions. — The discoveries of 
Columbus, Cabot, Magellan, and other navigators, had proved the 
earth to be a globe. Copernicus, a Prussian astronomer, now demon- 
strated the fact that it both turns on its axis and revolves around the 
sun, but the discovery was not accepted until many years later. 

On the other hand, astrology, witchcraft, and the transmutation of 
copper and lead into gold were generally beHeved in. In preaching 
before Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Jewell urged that stringent measures 



1485-1603] POLITICAL REACTION 22/ 

be taken with witches and sorcerers, saying that through their 
demoniacal acts " your Grace's subjects pine away even unto death, 
their color fadeth, their flesh rotteth." Lord Bacon and other eminent 
men held the same behef, and many persons eventually suffered death 
for the practice of witchcraft. 

464. Architecture. — The Gothic, or Pointed, style of architecture 
reached its final stage (the Perpendicular) in the early part of this 
period. The first examples of it have already been mentioned at the 
close of the preceding period (see § 376). After the close of 
Henry VII's reign no attempts were made to build any grand church 
edifices until St. Paul's Cathedral was rebuilt by Wren, in the 
seventeenth century, in the Italian, or classical, style. 

In the latter part of the Tudor period many stately country-houses^ 
and grand city mansions were built, ornamented with carved wood- 
work and-4Day-windows. Castles were no longer constructed, and, as 
the country was at peace, many of those which had been built were 
abandoned, though a few castellated mansions like Thornbury, 
Gloucestershire, were built in Henry VII I's time. The streets of 
London still continued to be very narrow, and the tall houses, with 
projecting stories, were so near together at the top that neighbors 
living on opposite sides of the street might almost shake hands from 
the upper windows. 

GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 

I 465. Foreign Trade. — The geographical discoveries of this period 
j gave a great impulse to foreign trade with Africa, Brazil, and North 
I America. The wool trade continued to increase, and also commerce 
i with the East Indies. In 1600 the East India Company was estab- 
1 lished, thus laying the foundation of England's Indian empire, and 
ships now brought cargoes direct to England by way of the Cape of 
Good Hope. 

Sir Francis Drake did a flourishing business in plundering Spanish 
settlements in America 'and Spanish treasure-ships, and Sir John 
Hawkins became wealthy through the slave trade, — kidnapping 
negroes on the coast of Guinea, and selling them to the Spanish West 
India colonies. The domestic trade of England was still carried on 

1 Such as Hatfield House, Knowle and Hardwick Hall ; and, in London, mansions 
similar to Crosby Hall. 



228 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1485-1603 

largely by great annual fairs. Trade, however, was much deranged 
by the quantities of debased money issued under Henry VIII and 
Edward VI . 

EHzabeth reformed the currency, and ordered the mint to send out 
coin which no longer had a lie stamped on its face, thereby setting 
an example to all future governments, whether monarchical or 
republican. 

MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 

466. Life in the Country andithe City. — In the cities this was an 
age of luxury ; but on the farms the laborer was glad to get a bundle 
of straw for a bed, and a wooden trencher to eat from. Vegetables 
were scarcely known, and fresh meat was eaten only by the well-to-do. 
The cottages were built of sticks and mud, without chimneys, and 
were nearly as bare of furniture as the wigwam of an American 
Indian. 

The rich kept several mansions and country-houses, but paid little 
attention to cleanliness ; and when the filth and vermin in one became 
unendurable, they left it " to sweeten," as they said, and went to 
another of their estates. The dress of the nobles continued to be of 
the most costly materials and the gayest colors. 

At table a great variety of dishes were served on silver plate, but 
fingers were still used in place of forks. Tea and coffee were 
unknown, and beer was the usual drink at breakfast and supper. 

Carriages were not in use, except by Queen Elizabeth, and all jour- 
neys were performed on horseback. Merchandise was also generally 
transported on pack-horses, the roads rarely being good enough for 
the passage of wagons. The principal amusements were the theatre, 
dancing, masquerading, bull and bear baiting (worrying a bull or bear 
with dogs), cock-fighting, and gambling. 



i 



1603-1625] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 229 



SECTION IX 



" It is the nature of the devil of tyranny to tear and rend the body which 
he leaves." — Macaulay. 



BEGINNING WITH THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS, 

AND ENDING WITH THE DIVINE RIGHT OF 

THE PEOPLE 

KING or PARLIAMENT? 

House of Stuart (1603-1649, 1660-1714) 

James I, 1603-1625. Charles II, 1660-1685. 

Charles I, 1625-1649. James II, 1685-1688. 

"The Commonwealth and William & Mary,i 1689-1702. 

Protectorate," 1649-1660. Anne, 1702-1714. 

467. Accession of James I. — Elizabeth was the last of the 

Tudor family. By birth, James Stuart, only son of Mary Stuart, 

Queen of Scots, and great-grandson of Margaret, sister of Henry 

VIII, was the nearest heir to the crown.^ He was already King 

, of Scotland under the title of James VI. He now, by act of 

! Parliament, became James I of England.^ By his accession the 

two countries were united under one sovereign, but each retained 

I its own Parliament, its own National Church, and its own laws.^ 

1 Orange-Stuart. 2 See table, § 420. 

j 3 See Taswell-Langmead's Constitutional History of England. 

4 On his coins and in his proclamations, James styled himself King of Great 
Britain, France, and Ireland. But the term Great Britain did not properly come 
into use until somewhat more than a hundred years later, when, by an act of Parlia- 
ment under Anne, Scotland and England were legally united. 

The English Parliament refused to grant free trade to Scotland and denied to 
|the people of that country, even if born after James I came to the English throne 
(or " Post Nati, " as they were called), the rights and privileges possessed by natives 
,of England. 



230 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1603-1625 

The new monarch found himself ruler over three kingdoms, each 
professing a different religion. Puritanism prevailed in Scotland, , 
CathoUcism in Ireland, Anglicanism or Episcopacy in England. i 

468. The King's Appearance and Character. — James was 
unfortunate in his birth. Neither his father. Lord Darnley, nor 
his mother had high quahties of character. The murder of Mary's 
Itahan secretary in her own palace, and almost in her own pres- 
ence (§447), gave the Queen a shock which left a fatal inheri- 
tance of cowardice to her son. Throughout his Hfe he could not 
endure the sight of a drawn sword. His personal appearance 
was by no means impressive. He had a feeble, rickety body, he 
could not walk straight, his tongue was too large for his mouth, 
and he had goggle eyes. Through fear of assassination he habit- 
ually wore thickly padded and quilted clothes, usually green in 
color. 

He was a man of considerable shrewdness, but of small mind, 
and of unbounded conceit. His Scotch tutor had crammed him 
with much ill-digested learning, so that he gave the impression of 
a man educated beyond his intellect. 

He wrote on witchcraft, kingcraft, and theology, besides numer- 
ous commonplace verses. He also wrote a sweeping denuncia- 
tion of the new plant called tobacco, which Raleigh (§ 444) had 
brought from America, whose smoke now began to perfume, or, 
according to James, to poison, the air of England. 

He had all the superstitions of the age, and one of his earliest 
acts was the passage of a statute punishing witchcraft with death. 
Under that law many a wretched woman perished on the scaffold, 
whose only crime was that she was old, ugly, and friendless. 

469. The Great Puritan Petition (1603). — During the latter 
part of Elizabeth's reign, the Puritans in England had increased 
so rapidly that Archbishop Whitgift told James he was amazed to 
find how " the vipers " had multiplied. The Puritans felt that 
the Reformation had not been sufficiently thorough (§ 430). 

They complained that many of the forms and ceremonies of 
the Church of England were by no means in harmony with the 
Scriptures. Many of them wished also to change the form of 



1603-1625] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 23 1 

church government, and instead of having bishops appointed 
by the King, to adopt the more democratic method of having 
presbyters or elders chosen by the congregation. 

While James was on the way from Scotland to London to 
receive the crown, the Puritans presented the " Millenary Peti- 
tion " to him. It was so called because it purported to have a 
thousand signers. . The ministers presenting it asked that they 
might be permitted to preach without wearing the white gown 
called a surplice, to baptize without making the sign of the cross 
on the child's forehead, and to perform the marriage ceremony 
without using the ring. Bishop Hooker and Lord Bacon had 
pleaded for a certain degree of toleration for the Puritans. They 
urged that "he that is not against us is for us." But the King 
had no patience with such a plea. 

470. Hampton Court Conference (1604). — The King convened 
a conference at Hampton Court, near London, to consider the 
petition, or rather to make a pedantic display of his own learning. 
The probabiUty that he would grant the petitioners' request was 
small. James had come to England disgusted with the violence 
of the Scotch Presbyterians or Puritans, especially since Andrew 
Melville, one of their leading ministers in Edinburgh, had seized 
his sleeve at a public meeting and addressed him with a somewhat 
brutal excess of truth, as " God's silly vassal." ^ 

But the new sovereign had a still deeper reason for his antip- 
athy to the Puritans. He saw that their doctrine of equality in 
the Church naturally led to that of equality in the State. If they 
objected to Episcopal government in the one, might they not 
presently object to royal government in the other ? Hence, to all 
their arguments, he answered with his favorite maxim, " No bishop, 
no king," meaning that the two must stand or fall together. 

At the Hampton Court Conference no real freedom of dis- 
cussion was allowed. The only good result was that the King 
ordered a new and revised translation of the Bible to be made. 

1 Gardiner in the Dictionary of National (English) Biography, under " James I," 
thinks that by "silly" Melville simply meant "weak." But at any rate the Puritan 
minister's blunt speech was far from complimentary. 



232 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1603-1625 

It was published a few years later (161 1). The work was done 
so well that it still remains the version used in nearly every 
Protestant church and Protestant home where the English 
language is spoken. 

James, however, regarded the conference as a success. He 
had refuted the Puritans, as he believed, with much Latin and 
some Greek. He ended by declaiming against them with such 
unction that one enthusiastic bishop declared that his majesty 
must be specially inspired by the Holy Ghost ! 

He closed the meeting by imprisoning the ten persons who 
had presented the petition, on the ground that it tended to sedi- 
tion and rebellion. Henceforth, the King's attitude toward the 
Puritans was unmistakable. " I will make them conform," said 
he, " or I will harry them out of the land "(§§474, 567). 

Accordingly, a law was enacted which required every curate to 
accept the Thirty-Nine Articles (§ 435) and the Prayer-Book 
(§ 414) without reservation. This act drove several hundred 
clergymen from the EstabHshed Church. 

471. The Divine Right of Kings; the Protest of the Com- 
mons; "Favorites." — As if with the desire of further alien- 
ating his people, James now constantly proclaimed the doctrine 
of the Divine Right of Kings. This theory, which was unknown 
to the English constitution, declared that the King derived his 
power and right to rule directly from God, and in no way from 
the people.^ " It is atheism and blasphemy," he said, " to 
dispute what God can do, ... so it is presumption and high 
contempt in a subject to dispute what a king can do." 

All this would have been amusing had it not been dangerous, 
James forgot that he owed his throne to that act of Parliament 
which accepted him as Elizabeth's successor (§ 467). In his 
exalted position as head of the nation, he boasted of his power 
much like the dwarf in the story, who, perched on the giant's 
shoulders, cries out, " See how big I am ! " 

1 James' favorite saying was, " A Deo rex, a rege lex " (God makes the king, 
the king makes the law). He boasted that kings might, as he declared, "make 
what liked them law and gospel." 



1603-1625] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 233 

Acting on this assumption, James levied customs duties on 
goods without asking the consent of ParHament ; violated the 
privileges of the House of Commons; rejected members who 
had been legally elected ; and imprisoned those who dared to 
criticise his course. The contest was kept up with bitterness 
during the whole reign. 

Toward its close James truckled meanly to the power of Spain, 
hoping thereby to marry his son Charles to a Spanish princess. 
Later, he made a feeble and futile effort to help the Protestant 
party in the great Thirty Years' War (16 18-1648), which had 
begun between the Catholics and Protestants in Germany. 
The House of Commons implored the King not to humiliate 
himself and the nation at the feet of Spain. The King rephed 
by warning the House not to meddle with matters which did 
not concern them, and denied their right to freedom of speech. 
The Commons solemnly protested, and James seized their offi- 
cial journal, and with his own hands tore out the record of the 
protest (1621).. 

Yet, notwithstanding his arbitrary character, James was easily 

managed by those who would flatter his vanity. For this reason 

he was always under the control of worthless favorites like Carr 

I (Earl of Somerset) or Villiers (Duke of Buckingham). These 

I men were the secret power behind the throne, and they often 

j| dictated the poHcy of the Crown. 

472. The Gunpowder Plot (1605). — This arbitrary spirit so 
[angered the Commons, many of whom were Puritans (§ 430), 
i that they, believing that the King secretly favored the Roman 
i Catholics, increased the stringency of the laws against persons of 
i that religion. To vindicate himself from this suspicion, the King 
proceeded to execute the new statutes with rigor. As a rule, the 
Catholics were loyal subjects. When Spain threatened to invade 
the country, they fought as vaHantly in its defence as the Prot- 
estants themselves (§ 452). Many of them were now ruined by 
enormous fines, while the priests were driven from the realm. 

One of the sufferers by these unjust measures was Robert 
Catesby, a CathoHc gentleman of good position. He, with the 



234 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1603-1625 

aid of a Yorkshire man, named Guy Fawkes, and about a dozen 
more, formed a plot to blow up the Parhament House, on the 
day the King was to open the session (Nov. 5, 1605). Their 
intention, after they had thus summarily disposed of the Gov- 
ernment, was to induce the CathoHcs to rise and proclaim a 
new sovereign. The plot was discovered, the conspirators exe- 
cuted, and the Catholics were treated with greater severity than 
ever (§ 567). 

473. American Colonies, Virginia, 1607. — A London joint 
stock company of merchants and adventurers, or speculators, 
established the first permanent English colony in America, on 
the coast of Virginia in 1607, at a place which they called 
Jamestown, in honor of the King.-^ The colony was wholly under 
the control of the Crown. 

The reHgion was to be that of the Church of England. Most 
of those who went out were "gentlemen," that is, persons not 
brought up to manual labor ; but for the energy and determined 
courage of Capt. John Smith, who was the real soul of the enter- 
prise, it would have proved, like Raleigh's undertaking (§ 444), 
a miserable failure. In time, however, the new colony gained 
strength. 

Negro slavery, which in those days touched no man's con- 
science, was introduced, and by its means great quantities of 
tobacco were raised for export. The settlement grew in popu- 
lation and wealth, and at the end of twelve years (1619) it had 
secured the privilege of making its own local laws, thus becoming 
practically a self-governing community. 

474. The Pilgrims ; the New Power. — The year after this 
great enterprise was undertaken, another band of emigrants 
went out from England, not west, but east ; not to seek pros- 
perity, but greater religious freedom. James' declaration that 
he would make all men conform to the Established Church, or 
drive them out of the land, was having its due effect (§ 470). 

Those who continued to refuse to conform were fined, cast 
into noisome prisons, beaten, and often half starved, so that the 

1 See Map No. 13, facing page 218. 




THE HOMES OF THE PILGR> 







ENGLAND AND IN HOLLAND. 



1603-1625] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 235 

old and feeble soon died. Strange to say, this kind of treatment 
did not win over the Puritans to the side of the bishops and the 
King. On the contrary, it set many of them to thinking more 
seriously than ever of the true relations of the Government to 
religion. 

The result was that not a few came to the conclusion that each 
body of Christians had a right to form a religious society of its 
own wholly independent of the State. Those of the Puritans 
who thus thought got the name of Independents, or Separatists, 
because they were determined to separate from the National 
Church and conduct their worship and govern their religious 
societies as they deemed best. 

In the little village of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, Postmaster 
William^ Brewster, William Bradford, John Carver, and some 
others, mostly farmers and poor men of the neighborhood, had 
organized such an independent church with John Robinson for 
its minister. After a time they became convinced that so long 
as they remained in England they could never be safe from per- 
secution. They therefore resolved to leave their native country, 
and as they could not get a royal license to go to America, to 
emigrate to Holland, where all men were, at that time, free to 
establish societies for the worship of God in their own manner. 
With much difficulty and danger they managed to escape there. 

After remaining in Holland upwards of twelve years, a part of 
them succeeded in obtaining from King James the privilege of 
emigrating to America.^ A London trading company, which was 
sending out an expedition for fish and furs, agreed to furnish the 
Pilgrims passage by the Mayflower, though on terms so hard 
that the poor exiles said the " conditions v/ere fitter for thieves 
and bondslaves than honest men." 

These Pilgrims, or wanderers, set forth (1620) for that new 
world beyond the sea, which they hoped would redress the 
wrongs of the old. Landing at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, they 

1 See Map No. 14, facing page 234 (Nottinghamshire in the northeast of Eng- 
land) ; and see " Why did the Pilgrim Fathers come to New England ? " by Edwin 
D. Mead, in the New Englander, 1882. 



236 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1603-1625 

established a colony on the basis of " equal laws for the general 
good." Ten years later, John Winthrop, a Puritan gentleman of 
wealth from Groton, Suffolk/ followed with a small company and 
settled Salera and Boston. During the next decade no less than 
twenty thousand Englishmen found a home in America. But to 
the little band that embarked under Bradford and Brewster in the 
Mayflower, the scene of whose landing at Plymouth is painted on 
the walls of the Houses of Parliament, belongs the credit of the 
great undertaking. 

Of that enterprise one of their brethren in England wrote in 
the time of their severest distress, with prophetic fores"^,ht, " Let 
it not be grievous to you that you have been instruments to break 
the ice for others; the honor shall be yours to the world's end." 
From this time forward the American coast south of the St. Law- 
rence was settled mainly by English emigrants, and in the course 
of a little more than a century (162 0-1733), the total number of 
colonies had reached thirteen. Thus the nation of Great Britain 
was beginning to expand into that greater Britain which it had 
discovered and planted beyond the sea. 

Meanwhile a new power had arisen in England. It was 
mightier even than that of kings, because greater for both good 
and evil. This power came up obscurely. It appeared in the 
spring of 1622, under the name of the Weekly News, — the first 
regular newspaper. 

475. The Colonization of Ireland (1611). — While the coloniza- 
tion of America was going on, James was himself planning a very 
different kind of colony in the northeast of Ireland. The greater 
part of the province of Ulster, which had been the scene of the 
rebellion under Elizabeth (§454), had been seized by the Crown. 
The King now granted these lands to settlers from Scotland and 
England. The city of London founded a colony which they 
called Londonderry, and by this means Protestantism was firmly 
and finally established in the north of the island. 

476. The *' Addled Parliament " ; the New Stand taken by the 
House of Commons (1610-1614). — The House of Commons at 

1 See Map No. 14, facing page 234. Suffolk is in the southeast of England. 



1603-1625] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 237 

this period began to slowly get back, with interest, the power it 
had lost under the Tudors (§ 402). James suffered from a chronic 
lack of money. He was obliged to apply to Parliament to supply 
his wants (1614), but that body was determined to grant nothing 
without reforms. They laid it down as a principle, to which they 
firmly adhered, that the King should not have the nation's coin 
unless he would promise to right the nation's wrongs. 

After several weeks of angry discussion the King dissolved what 
was nicknamed the "Addled Parliament," because its enemies 
accused it of having accompHshed nothing. In reality it had 
accompHshed much, for though it had not passed a single bill, 
it had shown by its determined attitude the growing strength 
of the people. For the next seven years James ruled without 
summoning a Parliament. In order to obtain means to support 
his army in Ireland, the King created a new title of rank, that 
of baronet,^ which he granted to any one who would pay liber- 
ally for it. As a last resort to get funds he compelled all persons 
having an income of forty ^ pounds or more a year, derived from 
landed property, to accept knighthood (thus incurring feudal 
obKgations and payments [§ 200]) or purchase exemption by 
a heavy fine. 

477. Impeachment of Lord Bacon (1621). — When James did 
finally summon a Parliament (1621), it met in a stern mood. 
The House of Commons impeached Lord Bacon for having taken 
bribes in lawsuits tried before him as judge. The House of Lords 
convicted him. He confessed the crime, but pleaded extenuating 
circumstances, adding, " I beseech your lordships to be merciful 
unto a broken reed " ; but Bacon had been in every respect a 

1 Baronet : this title does not confer the right to a seat in the House of Lords. 
A baronet is designated as " Sir," e.^-., Sir John FrarikHn. 

2 This exaction was ridiculed by the wits of the time in these lines : — 

" He that hath forty pounds per annum 
Shall be promoted from the plough ; 
His wife shall take the wall of her grannum* — 
Honor 's sold so dog-cheap now." 

distraint of knighthood, as it was called, began at least as far back as Edward I, 
* Take precedence of her grandmother. 



238 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1603-1625 

servile tool of James, and no mercy was granted. Parliament 
imposed a fine of ;z{^40,ooo, with imprisonment. Had the sen- 
tence been fully executed, it would have caused his utter ruin. 
The King, however, interposed, and his favorite escaped with a 
few days' confinement in the Tower. 

478. Execution of Raleigh (1618). — Meanwhile Sir Walter 
Raleigh (§ 444) had been executed on a charge of treason. He 
had been a prisoner in the Tower for many years (1603-16 16), 
accused of having plotted against the King.^ Influenced by greed 
for gain, James released him to go on an expedition in search 
of gold to replenish the royal coffers. Raleigh, contrary to 
the King's orders, came into colUsion with the Spaniards on 
the coast of South America.^ He failed in his enterprise, and 
brought back nothing. Raleigh was especially hated by Spain, 
not only on account of the part he had taken in the defeat of 
the Armada (§ 452), but also for his subsequent attacks on 
Spanish treasure-ships and property. 

The King of that country now demanded vengeance, and James, 
in order to get a pretext for his execution, revived the sentence 
which had been passed on Raleigh fifteen years before. He doubt- 
less hoped that, by sacrificing Raleigh, he might secure the hand 
of the daughter of the King of Spain for his son, Prince Charles. 
Raleigh died as Sir Thomas More did (§ 403), his last words a jest 
at death. His deeper feelings found expression in the lines which 
he wrote on the fly-leaf of his Bible the night before his judicial 
murder : — 

" Even such is Time, that takes in trust 
Our youth, our joys, our all we have, 
And pays us but with age and dust ; 
Who in the dark and silent grave. 



1 At the beginning of the reign two plots were discovered : one, called the " Main 
Plot," aimed to change the government and perhaps to place Arabella Stuart, cousin 
of James, on the throne. The object of the second conspiracy, called the " Bye Plot," 
was to obtain religious toleration. Raleigh was accused of having been implicated 
in the Main Plot. 

2 It is said that James had treacherously informed the Spanish ambassador of 
Raleigh's voyage, so that the collision was inevitable. 



1603-162 5] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 239 

When we have wandered all our ways, 
Shuts up the story of our days ; 
But from this earth, this grave, this dust, 
My God shall raise me up, I trust." 

479. Death of James. — As for James, when he died a few 
years later, a victim of confirmed drunkenness and gluttony, his 
fittest epitaph would have been what an eminent French statesman 
of that time called him, " the wisest fool in Christendom." ^ 

480. Summary. — Three chief events demand our attention 
in this reign. First, the increased power and determined attitude 
of the House of Commons. Secondly, the growth of the Puritan 
and Independent parties in religion. Thirdly, the establishment 
of permanent, self-governing colonies in Virginia and New Eng- 
land, destined in time to unite with others and become a new and 
independent nation, — the American Republic. 

CHARLES I— 1625-1649 

481. Accession of Charles; Result of the Doctrine of the 
Divine Right of Kings. — The doctrine of the Divine Right of 
Kings, which had been so zealously put forth by James (§ 471), 
bore its full and fatal fruit in the career of his son. Unlike his 
father, Charles was by nature a gentleman. In his private and 
personal relations he was conscientious and irreproachable ; in 
public matters he was exactly the reverse. 

This singular contrast — this double character, as it were — 
arose from the fact that, as a man, Charles felt himself bound by 
truth and honor, but, as a sovereign, he considered himself supe- 
rior to such obligations. In all his dealings with the nation he 
seems to have acted on the principle that the people had no 
rights which kings were bound to respect. 

482. The King's Two Mistakes at the Outset. — Charies I 
began his reign with two mistakes. First, he insisted on retain- 
ing the Duke of Buckingham, his father's favorite (§ 471), as his 
chief adviser, though the duke was, for good reasons, generally 



240 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1625-1649 

distrusted and disliked. Next, shortly after his accession, Charles 
married Henrietta Maria, a French Catholic princess. The major- 
ity of the English people hated her religion, and her extravagant 
habits soon got the King into trouble. 

To meet her incessant demands for money, and to carry on a 
petty war with Spain, and later with France, he was obliged to 
ask Parliament for funds. Parliament declined to grant him the 
siippiy hC-aeiriauutiii "anie^'s' ne wG'Jid-redT-ess certain ^^i^vonces 
of long standing. Charles refused and dissolved that body. 

483. The Second Parliament (1626) ; the King extorts Loans. 
— Necessity, however, compelled the King to call a new Parlia- 
ment. When it met, the Commons, under the lead of Sir John 
Eliot and other eminent men, proceeded to draw up articles of 
impeachment, accusing the Duke of Buckingham of mismanage- 
ment (§ 482). To save his favorite from being brought to trial, 
the King dissolved Parliament (1626), and as no supply had been 
voted, Charles now levied illegal taxes and extorted loans. 

Sir John Eliot, Sir Edmund Hampden,, cousin of the famous 
John Hampden, and Sir Thomas Wentworth refused (1627) to 
lend his majesty the sum asked for. For this refusal they were 
thrown into prison. This led to increased agitation and discon- 
tent. At length the King found himself again forced to summon 
Parliament ; to this Parliament, Eliot, Wentworth, and others who 
sympathized with them, were elected. 

484. The Petition of Right, 1628. — Shortly after assembling, 
the House of Commons, led by Sir Thomas Wentworth and John 
Pym, drew up the Petition of Right, which passed the Lords and 
was presented to the King for his signature. The petition was a 
law reaffirming some of the chief provisions of the Great Charter 
(§251). It stipulated in particular, that no taxes whatever 
should be levied without the consent of Parliament, and that no 
one should be unlawfully imprisoned for refusing to pay such 
taxes. In the petition there was not an angry word, but as a 
member of the Commons declared, " We say no more than what 
a worm trodden upon would say if he could speak : I pray thee 
tread on me no more." 



1625-1649] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 24I 

485. Charles signs the Petition of Right, 1628 ; he revives 
Monopolies. — Charles refused to sign the petition ; but finding 
that money could be got on no other terms, he at length gave 
his signature, 1628.-^ But for Charles to pledge his royal word 
to the nation meant its direct and open violation. The King 
now revived the "monopolies," which had been aboHshed under 
Elizabeth (§ 440). 

By these grants certain persons bought the sole right of dealing 
in nearly every article of food, drink, fuel, and clothing. The 
Commons denounced this outrage. One member said : " The 
' monopolists ' have seized everything. They sip in our cup, they 
sup in our dish, they sit by our fire." 

486. Eliot's Remonstrance (1629). — Sir John Eliot (§ 483) 
drew up a remonstrance against these new acts of royal tyranny, 
but the Speaker of the House of Commons, acting under the 
King's order, refused to put the measure to vote, and endeavored 
to adjourn. 

Several members sprang forward and held him in his chair until 
the resolutions were passed, which declared that whoever levied or 
paid any taxes not voted by Parliament, or attempted to make any 
change in religion, was an enemy to the kingdom. In revenge 
Charles sent Eliot to close confinement in the Tower. He died 
there three years later, a martyr in the cause of liberty. 

487. The King rules without Parliament; ''Thorough." — 
For the next eleven years (i 629-1 640) the King ruled without 
a Parliament. The obnoxious Buckingham (§483) had led an 
expedition against France which resulted in miserable failure. 
He was about setting out on a second expedition to aid the 
Huguenots, who had rebelled against the French King, when 
he was assassinated (1628). His successor was Sir Thomas 
Wentworth, who later (1640) became Earl of Strafford. Went- 
worth had signed the Petition of Right (§484), but he was 
now a renegade to liberty, and wholly devoted to the King. 
By means of the Star-Chamber (§ 382) and his scheme called 

1 Petition of Right : see Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, 
page xvi, § 17, and page xxix. 



242 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1625-1649 

"Thorough," which meant that he would stop at nothing to make 
Charles absolute, he labored to establish a complete despotism. 

Bishop Laud, who had become head of the Church, worked 
with him through the High Commission Court (§433). Together, 
the two exercised a crushing and merciless system of pohtical and 
religious tyranny ; the Star-Chamber fining and imprisoning those 
who refused the illegal demands for money made upon them, the 
High Commission Court showing itself equally zealous in punish- 
ing those who could not conscientiously conform to the Established 
Church of England.-^ 

Charles exasperated the Puritans still further by reissuing (1633) 
his father's Declaration of Sunday Sports, which had never really 
been enforced. This Declaration encouraged parishioners to 
dance, play games, and practise archery in the churchyards after 
divine service. Laud used it as a test, and turned all clergymen 
out of their livings who refused to read it from their pulpits. 
When the Puritans finally got the upper hand (1644) they publicly 
burned the Declaration. 

488. ''Ship Money" (1637); John Hampden. — To obtain 
means with which to equip a standing army, the King forced the 
whole country to pay a tax known as " ship money," on the 
pretext that it was needed to free the EngHsh coast from the 
depredations of Algerine pirates. During previous reigns an 
impost of this kind on the coast towns in time of war might have 
been considered legitimate, since its original object was to provide 
ships for the national defence. 

In time of peace, however, such a demand could not be right- 
fully made, especially on the inland towns, as the Petition of 
Right (§ 484) expressly provided that no money should be 
demanded from the country without the consent of its repre- 
sentatives in Parliament. John Hampden (§ 483) refused to pay 
the twenty shilHngs required from him. He did not grudge the 

1 To strengthen the hands of Archbishop Laud and to secure absolute uniformity 
of faith, Charles issued (1628) a Declaration (still found in the English editions 
of the Book of Common Prayer), which forbade any one to understand or explain 
the Thirty-Nine Articles (§435) in any sense except that established by the bishops 
and the King. 



1625-1649] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 243 

money, but he would not tamely submit to have even that tri- 
fling sum taken from him contrary to law. The case was brought 
to trial (1637), and the corrupt judges decided for the King. 

489. Hampden and Cromwell endeavor to leave the Country. — 
Meanwhile John Winthrop with many other Puritans emigrated 
to America to escape oppression. According to tradition John 
Hampden (§ 486) and his cousin, Oliver Cromwell, who was a 
member of the last Parliament, embarked on a vessel in the 
Thames for New England. But it is said that they were prevented 
from sailing by the King's order. The two friends remained to 
teach the despotic sovereign a lesson which neither he nor 
England ever forgot.^ 

490. The Difficulty with the Scottish Church (1637). — The 
King determined to force the use of a prayer-book, similar to that 
used in the English Church (§ 414), on the Scotch Puritans. But 
no sooner had the Dean of Edinburgh opened the book than a 
general cry arose in the church, " A Pope, a Pope ! Antichrist ! 
stone him ! " When the bishops endeavored to appease the 
tumult, the enraged congregation clapped and yelled. 

Again the dean tried to read a prayer from the hated book, 
when an old woman hurled her stool at his head, shouting, " D 'ye 
mean to say mass^ at my lug [ear] ? " Riots ensued, and eventu- 
ally the Scotch solemnly bound themselves by a Covenant to resist 
all attempts to change their religion. The King resolved to force 
his liturgy on the Covenanters ^ at the point of the bayonet. 

But he had no money to pay his army, and the " Short Parlia- 
ment " which he summoned (in the spring of 1640) refused to 
grant any unless the King would redress the nation's grievances. 
As a last resort, he summoned that memorable Parliament which 

1 Macaulay's Essay on Hampden, Guizot's English Revolution, and other well- 
known authorities, relate the proposed sailing of Hampden and Cromwell, but recent 
writers question its truth. 

2 Mass : here used for the Roman Catholic church service. 

3 The first Covenanters were the Scottish leaders, who, in 1557, bound themselves 
by a solemn covenant to overthrow all attempts to reestablish the Catholic religion 
in Scotland; when Charles I undertook to force the Scotch to accept Episcopacy the 
Puritan party in Scotland drew up a new covenant (1638) to resist it. 



244 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1625-1649 

met in November of 1 640. It sat almost continuously for thirteen 
years, and so got the name of the " Long Parliament." ^ 

491. The "Long Parliament," 1640; Impeachment of Strafford 
and Laud; the '* Grand Remonstrance." — The new Parliament 
was made up of three parties : the Church of England party, the 
Presbyterian party, and the Independents (§ 474). The spirit of 
this body soon showed itself. John Pym (§ 484), the leader of 
the House of Commons, demanded the impeachment of Strafford 
(§ 487) for high treason and despotic oppression. He was tried 
and sentenced to execution. The King refused to sign the death 
warrant, but Strafford himself urged him to do so in order to 
appease the people. Charles, frightened at the tumult that had 
arisen, and entreated by his wife, finally put his hand to the 
paper, and thus sent his most faithful servant to the block. 

Parliament next charged Laud (§ 487) with attempting to over- 
throw the Protestant religion. They condemned him to prison, 
and ultimately to death. Next, it abolished the Star-Chamber and 
the High Commission Court (§§ 382, 433, 487). It next passed 
the Triennial Act,^ a bill requiring Parliament to be summoned 
once in three years, and also a statute forbidding the collection 
of " ship money " unless authorized by Parliament. 

Under the leadership of Pym, it followed this by drawing up 
the " Grand Remonstrance," ^ which was printed and circulated 
throughout the country. The "Remonstrance" set forth the 
faults of the King's government, while it declared utter distrust 
of his policy. Cromwell did not hesitate to say that if the House 
of Commons had failed to adopt and print the " Remonstrance " 
he would have left England never to return. The radicals in the 
House next made an attempt to pass the "Root and Branch 
Bill," for the complete destruction — "root and branch" — of 
the Episcopal Church of England. Finally, the House enacted 



1 Long Parliament : it was not finally dissolved until 1660, twenty years from its 
first meeting. 

2 The Triennial Act was repealed (in form only) in 1664; it was reenacted in 
1694 ; in 1 716 it was superseded by the Septennial Act (§ 584). 

3 See Summary of Constitutional History in Appendix, page xvii, § 19. 



I 



1625-1649] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 245 

a law forbidding the dissolution of the present Parliament except 
by its own consent. 

492. The Attempted Arrest of the Five Members (1642). — 
The parliamentary leaders had entered into communication with 
the Scots and so laid themselves open to a charge of treason. It 
was rumored, too, that they were about to take a still bolder step 
and impeach the Queen for having conspired with the Catholics 
and the Irish to destroy the liberties of the country. No one 
knew better than Charles how strong a case could be made out 
against his frivolous and unprincipled consort. 

Driven to extremities, he determined to seize the five members, 
John Hampden, John Pym, and three others, who headed the 
opposition.^ The House of Commons was requested to give them 
up for trial. The request was not complied with. The Queen 
urged him to take them by force, saying, " Go along, you coward, 
and pull those rascals out by the ears ! " Thus taunted, the King, 
attended by an armed force, went on the next day to the House 
of Parliament, purposing to seize the members. They had been 
forewarned, and had left the House, taking refuge in the city, 
which showed itself then, as always, on the side of liberty. Leav- 
ing his soldiers at the door, the King entered the House. Seeing 
that the members were absent, the King turned to the Speaker 
and asked where they were. The Speaker, kneeling before the 
King, answered, " May it please your Majesty, I have neither 
eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as this House is 
pleased to direct me." Vexed that he could learn nothing 
further, Charles left the hall amid ominous cries of " Privilege ! 
privilege ! " ^ 

493. The Great Civil War (1642-1649) between the King and 
Parliament. — The King, baffled in his purpose, resolved to 
coerce Parliament by military force. He left London in 1642, 



1 The full list was Hampden, Pym, Mollis, Haselrig, and Strode, to which a sixth, 
Mandeville, was added later. See Copley's fine picture of the Attempted Arrest, in 
the Boston PubUc Library. 

2 Privilege : the privilege of Parliament to debate all questions exempt from royal 
interference. 



246 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1625-1649 

never to return until he came as a prisoner, and was delivered 
into the custody of that legislative body that he had insulted 
and defied. Parliament now attempted to come to an under- 
standing with the King. 

There was then no standing army in England, but each county 
and large town had a body of militia, formed of citizens who were 
occasionally mustered for drill. This militia was under the con- 
trol of the King. Parliament insisted on his resigning that control 
to them. Charles refused to give up his undoubted constitutional 
right in the matter, raised the royal flag at Nottingham (August, 
1642). Parliament then organized its army, and the war began. 

494. Cavaliers and Roundheads. — It opened in the autumn of 
that year (1642) with the battle of Edgehill, Warwickshire, and 
was at first favorable to the King. On his side were a majority 
of the nobility, the clergy, and the country gentlemen. They 
were mainly members of the Church of England and were known 
collectively as Cavaliers, from their dashing and daring horseman- 
ship. Their leader was Prince Rupert, a nephew of Charles.^ 

On the side of Parliament were the shop-keepers, small farmers 
and land-owners, with a considerable number of men of high rank ; 
as a rule they were Puritans. They were called in ridicule the 
Roundheads, because many of them, despising the long locks and 
effeminate ringlets worn by the Cavaliers, cut their hair short so 
that it showed the shape of the head.^ Essex and Fairfax were 
the first leaders of the Roundheads ; later, Cromwell became their 
commander. 

495. How the Country was divided ; Rise of Political News- 
papers. — Taking England as a whole, we may say that the south- 
eastern half, that is, what was then the richest part of England, 
with London and most of the other large towns, was against the 
King, and that the southwestern half was for him.^ Each side 
made great sacrifices in carrying on the war. The Queen sold 

1 See "A Charge with Prince Rupert," Atlantic Magazine (T. W. Higginson), 
III, 725. Nottingham is in Nottinghamshire, in the east of England. 

2 The Royalists, or Cavaliers, called them " those round-headed dogs that bawled 
against bishops." 

3 See Map No. 15, facing page 248, and § 34, 



1625-1649] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 247 

her crown jewels, and the Cavahers melted down their silver plate 
to provide money to pay the troops. 

On behalf of the people, Parliament imposed heavy taxes, and 
levied now for the first time a duty on domestic products, 
especially on ales and liquors, known as the " Excise Tax." 
Furthermore, it required each household to fast once a week, and 
to give the price of a dinner to support the army. 

Parliament also passed what was called the "Self-denying 
Ordinance" (1644) (repeated in 1645). It required all mem- 
bers who held any civil or military office to resign, and, as 
Cromwell said, "deny themselves and their private interests for 
the public good." The real object of this measure was to get 
rid of incompetent commanders, and give the army (soon to 
be remodelled) the vigorous men that the times demanded. 

With the outbreak of the war great numbers of Httle local 
newspapers sprang into short-lived existence in imitation of 
the first publication of that sort, the Weekly News, which was 
issued not quite twenty years before in the reign of James I 
(§ 474). Each of the rival armies, it is said, carried a printing- 
press with it, and waged furious battles in type against the 
other. The whole country was inundated with floods of 
pamphlets discussing every conceivable reHgious and poHtical 
question.-^ 

496. The "New Model"; Death of John Hampden; the 
Solemn League and Covenant (1642-1645). — At the first battle 
fought (Edgehill, Warwickshire) (1642) Cromwell saw that the 
Cavaliers had the advantage, and told Hampden (§ 492) that 
" a set of poor tapsters [drawers of liquor] and town apprentices 
would never fight against men of honor." He forthwith pro- 
ceeded to organize his regiment of "Ironsides," a "lovely com- 
pany," as he said, none of whom swore or gambled. 

After the first Self-denying Ordinance was passed (§ 495), 
Cromwell and Fairfax formed a new army of " God-fearing men " 
on the same pattern, almost all of whom were Independents 
(§ 491). This was called the " New Model" (1645) ^^^^ was placed 

1 About thirty thousand pamphlets came out between 1640 and 1660. 



248 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1625-1649 

under the joint command of the men who organized it. Very 
many of its officers were kinsmen of Cromwell's, and it speedily 
became the most formidable body of soldiers of its size in the 
world, — always ready to preach, pray, exhort, or fight.^ 

Meanwhile John Hampden (§ 488) had been mortally 
wounded in a skirmish at Chalgrove Field, Oxfordshire. His 
death was a terrible blow to the parliamentary army fighting 
in behalf of the rights of the people.^ 

ParHament endeavored to persuade the Scotch to join them 
against the King. They finally agreed to do so (1643) on con- 
dition that ParHament would sign the Solemn League and Cove- 
nant (§ 490). The Covenant, when it was established (1647), 
made the Scotch Presbyterian worship the state religion of Eng- 
land and Ireland. In reality only a small part of the English 
people accepted it; but the change forced a large number of 
Episcopal clergymen to leave their parishes. 

497. Marston Moor and Naseby (1644, 1645). — On the field 
of Marston Moor (1644) the North of England was conquered 
by Cromwell with his invincible httle army. The following year 
Cromwell's " Ironsides," who " trusted in God and kept their 
powder dry," gained the decisive victory of Naseby (1645) i^ 
the Midlands.^ After the fight papers belonging to the King 
were picked up on the battle-field. They proved that Charles 
intended betraying those who were negotiating with him for 
peace, and that he was planning to bring foreign troops to Eng- 
land. The discovery of these papers, which were published by 
Parliament, was more damaging to the royal cause than the 
defeat itself. 

498. The King and Parliament. — Standing on the walls of 
Chester, Charles saw his last army defeated (1645). Shortly 
afterward he fled to the Scots. Oxford, the King's chief city 

1 " The common soldiers, as well as the officers, did not only pray and preach 
among themselves, but went up into the pulpits in all churches and preached 
to the people." — Clarendon, History of the Rebellion^ Book X, p. 79. 

2 See Macaulay's Essay on Hampden. Clarendon says that Hampden's death 
produced as great consternation in his party " as if their whole army had been 
cut off." 3 See Map No. 15, facing page 248. 



.^ 



K^ Edinburgh Dunbi 



CHIEE :B ATTLEFIELDS 

OF 
THE CIVIIi WAR 

OF THE 17TH CENTURY 



NORTH 



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5ristol 



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Cambridge 



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1685 



Carisb: 



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ISLE OF WIGHT 'C'i 



B H a ^ 



If 



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The country west of the broad dotted line supported the cause of Charles I ; 
tliat on the east supported ParUament. 



1625-1649] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 249 

in the Midlands, surrendered to Fairfax (1646). The first civil 
war was now practically over. The Scots gave up the King 
(1647) to the parliamentary commissioners, and he was taken 
to Holmby House, Northamptonshire. There Cromwell and 
the army made overtures to him, but without effect. He was 
then brought by the parhamentary army to Hampton Court, 
near London. 

Here, and elsewhere, the army again attempted to come to 
some definite understanding with the King, but all to no pur- 
pose. Politically speaking, Charles was his own worst enemy. 
He was false to the core, and, as Carlyle has said : "A man whose 
word will not inform you at all what he means, or will do, is 
not a man you can bargain with. You must get out of that 
man's^ay, or put him out of yours." ^ 

499. The Second Civil War (1648) ; Pride's Purge (1648). — 
After two years spent in fruitless negotiations, Charles, who had 
fled to Carisbrooke Castle in the Isle of Wight, made a secret 
treaty with the Scots (1648), promising to establish the Presby- 
terian Church in England, if they would send an army into 
the country to restore him to the throne.^ 

The Scots marched into England, the Royahsts rose to aid 
them, and the second civil war began. It speedily ended in the 
utter defeat of the Royahsts. The army now vowed that they 
would bring the King to justice. To this neither the Presby- 
terians in the House of Commons nor the members of the 
House of Lords would agree. 

Colonel Pride then proceeded (1648), as he said, to purge the 
''Long Parliament" (§ 491) by driving out all who were opposed 
to this measure. Cromwell had no part in Pride's expulsion of 
members, though he afterwards expressed his approval of it. 
Those who remained were a small body of Independents only 
(§491). They did not number sixty ; they became the mere tool 

1 Carlyle' s Past and Present. 

2 When Cromwell found out through his spies that Charles had resolved to destroy 
him and the Independent army by forming an alliance with the Scots and the Pres- 
byterians, he seems to have made up his mind to put the King to death. See Lord 
Broghill's story in Gardiner's History of the Great Civil War, III, 259. 



250 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1625-1649 

of the parliamentary army and were called in derision the 
"Rump Parliament." 

500. Execution of the King (1649) • — This legislative rem- 
nant next named one hundred and thirty-five persons to con- 
stitute a high court of justice to try the King on a charge of 
treason against the nation ; the chief judge or presiding officer 
was John Bradshaw. Out of this number less than half were 
present throughout the trial. Of those who remained and 
signed the death warrant Cromwell was one. Prince Charles, 
then a refugee in France, made every effort to save his father. 
He sent a blank paper bearing his signature and seal to the 
judges, offering to bind himself to any conditions they might 
insert, provided they would spare his father's hfe ; but no answer 
was returned. 

The King was brought into court (Jan. 20, 1649); a week 
later the trial was over. The judges pronounced sentence of 
death on " Charles Stuart, King of England," as a " tyrant, traitor, 
murderer, and public enemy." 

Throughout the trial Charles bore himself with dignity and 
self-possession. The crisis had brought out the best elements of 
his nature. He was beheaded (Jan. 30, 1649) in London in 
front of the royal palace of Whitehall. " A great shudder ran 
through the crowd that saw the deed, then came a shriek, and 
all immediately dispersed." Tradition declares that Cromwell 
went secretly that night to see the beheaded corpse. He looked 
steadfastly at it, shook his head, sighed out the words, " Cruel 
necessity ! " and departed.^ 

501. Summary. — The whole of Charles I's reign must be 
regarded as a prolonged struggle between the K'ing and the 
nation. Under the Tudors and James I the royal power had 
been growing more and more despotic, while at the same time 
the progress of the Protestant Reformation and of Puritanism had 
encouraged freedom of thought. 

Between these opposite forces a collision was inevitable, since 
religious liberty always favors political liberty. Had Charles 
1 Gardiner's Great Civil War, III, 604. 





^#^ 



1625-1649] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 25 1 

known how to yield in time, or been sincere in the concessions 
which he did make, all might have gone well. His duplicity was 
his ruin. Though his death did not absolutely destroy the theory 
of the Divine Right of Kings, yet it gave it a blow from which 
it never recovered. 

THE COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE — 1649-1660 

502. Establishment of the Commonwealth, or Republic (1649- 
1660). — While the crowd that had witnessed the execution of 
Charles I was leaving the spot (Jan. 30, 1649), the remnant 
of the House of Commons met. This " Rump Parliament " 
(§ 499), composed of only about fifty members, claimed the right 
to act Tor the whole nation. A few days later, it abolished the 
House of Lords as "useless and dangerous." Next, for similar 
reasons, it abohshed the office of king. 

England was now a republic, governed, in name at least, by a 
Council of State. Of this Council John Bradshaw (§ 500) was 
president, and the poet Milton was foreign secretary, while Fairfax 
with Cromwell had command .of the army. The real power was in 
the army, and the true head of the army was Cromwell. Without 
him the so-called republic could not have stood a day. 

503. Radical Changes. — All members of the House of Com- 
mons, with those who held any civil or military office, were 
required to swear allegiance to the Commonwealth "without 
king or House of Lords." The use of the English church service 
was forbidden, and the statues of Charles in London were pulled 
down and demolished.- 

The great seal of England had already been cast aside, and a 
new one adopted, having on one side a map of England and 
Ireland, on the other a representation of the House of Commons 
in session, with the v/ords, " In the first year of freedom, by 
God's blessing restored 1648."^ 

504. Difficulties of the New Republic. — Shortly after the 
establishment of the Commonwealth, Fairfax resigned his com- 

1 1648 Old Style would here correspond to 1649 New Style. See § 594, note 2. 



252 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1649-1658 

mand, and Cromwell became the sole leader of the military 
forces of the country. But the new Government, even with his 
aid, had no easy task before it. 

It had enemies in the Royalists, who, since the King's execu- 
tion, had grown stronger ; in the Presbyterians, who hated both 
the "Rump Parliament" (§502) and the parliamentary army; 
finally, it had enemies in its own ranks in half-crazy fanatics, 
"Levellers,"^ " Come-outers," ^ and other "cattle and creeping 
things," who would be satisfied with nothing but destruction and 
confusion. 

Among them were communists, who, like those of the present 
day, wished to abohsh private property, and establish " an equal 
division of unequal earnings," while others declared and acted 
out their belief in the coming end of the world. Eventually 
Cromwell had to deal with these enthusiasts in a decided way, 
especially as some of them threatened to assassinate him in order 
to hasten the personal reign of Christ and his saints on earth. 

505. The Late King's Son proclaimed King in Ireland and 
Scotland ; Dunbar ; Worcester (1649-1651). — The attempt of the 
English Puritan party to root out Catholicism in Ireland (1641) 
had caused a horrible insurrection. Thp Royalist party in Ireland 
now proclaimed Prince Charles King. Cromwell was deputed to 
reduce that country to order, and to destroy the Royahsts. To 
his invincible army of Independents nothing could have been 
more congenial than such a crusade. They descended upon the 
unhappy island (1649), ^^^ wiped out the rebellion in such a 
whirlwind of fire and slaughter that the horror of the visitation 
has never been forgotten. To this day the direst imprecation a 
southern Irishman can utter is, " The curse of Cromwell on ye ! " ^ 

Not satisfied with these terrible measures, Cromwell resolved to 

1 " Levellers " : a name given to certain radical republicans who wished to reduce 
all ranks and classes to the same level with respect to political power and privileges. 

2 " Come-outers " : this, though a modern term, describes a class who abandoned 
all established ways, both of government and religion. 

3 At Drogheda and Wexford, on the east coast of Ireland, Cromwell, acting in 
accordance with the laws of war of that day, massacred the garrisons which refused 
to surrender. 



1649-1658] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 253 

drive the greater part of the population of Ireland from their 
lands. His plan was to force them to settle in the west of the 
island in the barren and desolate province of Connaught. Thou- 
sands were compelled to go into this dreary exile, and hundreds 
of families who refused were shipped to the Barbadoes and sold 
as slaves, as was often done in that day with prisoners of war. 

In Scotland also Prince Charles was looked upon as the legiti- 
mate sovereign by a strong and influential party. He found in 
the brave Montrose,^ who was hanged for treason at Edinburgh, 
and in other loyal supporters, far better friends than he deserved. 
The prince came to Scotland (1650), and took the oath of the 
Covenant (§ 490). It must have been a bitter pill for a man of 
his free and easy temperament. But worse was to come, for the 
Scottistr Puritans made him sign a paper declaring that his 
father had been a tyrant and that his mother was an idolater. 
No wonder the caricatures of the day represented the Scots as 
holding the prince's nose to a grindstone.^ Later, Charles rallied 
a small force, but it was utterly defeated at Dunbar (1650). 

Twelve months afterward, on the anniversary of his defeat at 
Dunbar, Charles made a second attempt to obtain the crown. 
At the battle of Worcester Cromwell again routed his forces and 
brought the war to an end. Charles escaped into Shropshire, 
where he hid for a day in an oak at Boscobel. After many narrow 
escapes he at length succeeded in getting out of the country. 

506. Cromwell expels Parliament. — Cromwell now urged the 
necessity of calling a Parliament which should represent the coun- 
try, reform the laws, and pass a general act of pardon. In his * 
despatch to the House of Commons after the victory of Worcester, 
he called the battle a " crowning mercy." Some of the repub- 
Hcans in that body took alarm at this phrase, and thought that 
Cromwell used it to foreshadow a design to place the crown on his 
own head. For this reason, perhaps, they hesitated to dissolve. 

iSee Aytoun's Scottish Ballads: The Execution of Montrose. Charles basely 
abandoned Montrose to his fate. 

2 See a reproduction of this famous caricature in the illustrated edition of Green's 
Short History of the English People, III, 1216. 



254 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1649-1658 

But at last they could not withstand the pressure, and a bill 
was introduced (1653) for summoning a new Parliament of four 
hundred members, but with the provision that all members of the 
present House were to keep their seats, and have the right to 
reject newly elected members. 

Cromwell, with the army, believed this provision a trick on the 
part of the "Rump" (§502) to keep themselves in perpetual 
power. 

Sir Harry Vane, who was a leading member of the House, and 
who had been governor of the colony of Massachusetts, feared 
that the country was in danger of falling into the hands of Crom- 
well as military dictator. He therefore urged the immediate 
passage of the bill as it stood. Cromwell heard that a vote 
was about to be taken. Putting himself at the head of a squad 
of soldiers, whom he left at the door, he suddenly entered the 
House (1653). 

After Hstening to the debate for some time, he rose from his 
seat and charged the Commons with injustice and misgovernment. 
A member remonstrated. Cromwell grew excited, saying, " You 
are no Parliament ! I say you are no Parliament ! " Then he 
called in the musketeers. The Speaker was dragged from his 
chair, and the members driven after him. 

As they passed out, Cromwell shouted, "drunkard," "glutton," 
"extortioner," with other opprobrious names. When all were 
gone, he locked the door and put the key in his pocket. During 
the night some Royalist wag nailed a placard on the door, bearing 
the inscription in large letters, "This House to let, unfurnished ! " 

507. Cromwell becomes Protector ; the *' Instrument of Govern- 
ment " (1653). — Cromwell now summoned a new Parliament, 
which was practically of his own choosing. It consisted of 
one hundred and thirty-nine members, and was known as the 
"Little Parliament."^ The RoyaHsts nicknamed it " Barebone's 

1 A regularly summoned Parliament, elected by the people, would have been 
much larger. This was chosen from a list furnished to the Council of State by the 
ministers of the various Independent churches. It was in no true sense a representa- 
tive body. 



1649-1658] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 255 

Parliament " from one of its members, a London leather merchant 
named Praise-God Barebone. Notwithstanding the irregularity 
of its organization and the ridicule cast upon it, the "Barebone's 
Parliament" proposed several reforms of great value, which the 
country afterward adopted. 

A council of Cromwell's leading men now presented a consti- 
tution, entitled the " Instrument of Government." ^ It made 
Cromwell Lord Protector of England, Ireland, and Scotland. 

Up to this time the Commonwealth had been a republic, 
nominally under the control of the House of Commons, but as 
a matter of fact governed by Cromwell and the army. Now it 
became a republic under a Protector, or President, who was to 
hold his office for life. 

A fe\v" years later (1657), Parliament adopted a second consti- 
tution, called the " Humble Petition and Advice." ^ It offered 
Cromwell the crown. He would have taken it ; but, finding the 
army would not support him in such a step, reluctantly relin- 
quished it. He at the same time endeavored to restore the 
House of Lords, but could not get them to attend. 

508. Emigration of Royalists to America. — Under the tyranny 
of the Stuart kings, John Winthrop and many other noted Puritans 
had emigrated to Massachusetts and other parts of New England. 
During the Commonwealth the case was reversed, and numbers of 
RoyaHsts fled to Virginia. Among them were John Washington, 
the great-grandfather of George Washington, and the ancestors of 
Jefferson, Patrick Henry, the Lees, Randolphs, and other promi- 
nent families, destined in time to found a republic in the new 
world much more democratic than anything the old had ever seen. 

1 " Instrument of Government " : the principal provisions of this constitution 
were: i. The government was vested in the Protector and a council appointed for 
life. 2. Parliament to be summoned every three years, and not to be dissolved under 
five months. 3. A standing army of thirty thousand to be maintained, 4. All taxes 
to be levied by Parliament. 5. The system of representation was reformed, so that 
many large places hitherto without representation in Parliament now obtained 
it. 6. All Roman Catholics, and those concerned in the Irish rebellion, were 
disfranchised forever. 

2 The "Humble Petition and Advice" was a modification of the "Instrument 
of Government." 



I 



256 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1649-1658 

509. Cromwell as a Ruler ; Puritan Fanaticism. — When Crom- 
well's new Parliament ventured to criticise his course, he dissolved 
them (1654) quite as peremptorily as the late king. Soon after- 
ward, fear of a RoyaHst rebellion led him to divide the country 
into eleven mihtary districts (1655), each governed by a major- 
general, who ruled by martial law and with despotic power. All 
Royalist famiUes were heavily taxed to support the standing 
army ; all CathoUc priests were banished, and no books or papers 
could be published without permission of the Government. 

Cromwell, however, though compelled to resort to severe 
measures to secure peace, was, in spirit, no oppressor. On the 
contrary, he proved himself the Protector not only of the realm 
but of the Protestants of Europe. When they were threatened 
with persecution, his influence saved them. He showed, too, that 
in an age of bigotry he was no bigot. Puritan fanaticism, exasper- 
ated by the persecution it had endured under James and Charles, 
often went to the utmost extremes, even as Hudibras^ said, to 
" killing of a cat on Monday for catching of a rat on Sunday." 

It treated the most innocent customs, if they were in any way 
associated with CathoHcism or Episcopacy, as serious offences. It 
closed all places of amusement ; it condemned mirth as ungodly ; 
it was a sin to dance round a May-pole, or to eat mince pie at 
Christmas. Fox-hunting and horse-racing were forbidden, and 
bear-baiting prohibited, " not because it gave pain to the bear, but 
because it gave pleasure to the spectators." 

In such an age, when a man could hardly claim to be religious 
unless he wore sad-colored raiment, talked through his nose, and 
quoted Scripture at every sentence, Cromwell showed exceptional 
moderation and good sense. 

510. Cromwell's Religious Toleration. — He favored the toler- 
ation of all forms of worship not directly opposed to the gov- 
ernment as then constituted. He befriended the Quakers, who 
were looked upon as the enemies of every form of worship, and 

1 Hudibras: a burlesque poem by Samuel Butler. It was published in 1663, and 
satirizes all the leading persons and parties of the Commonwealth, but especially 
the Puritans. 



1649-1658] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 257 

were treated with cruel severity both in England and America. 
He was instrumental in sending the first Protestant missionaries 
to Massachusetts to convert the Indians, then supposed by many 
to be a remnant of the lost tribes of Israel ; and after an exclusion 
of many centuries (§ 274), he permitted the Jews to return to 
England, and even to build a synagogue in London. 

On the other hand, there are few of the cathedral or parish 
churches of England which do not continue to testify to the 
destructive hatred which during the civil wars vented itself on 
everything savoring of the rule of either pope or bishop.^ The 
empty niches, where some gracious image of the Virgin or the 
figure of some saint once looked down ; the patched remnants 
of brilliant stained glass, once part of a picture telling some 
Scripture* story; the tombs, broken, hacked, and hewed by pike 
and sword because on them was some emblem or expression of 
the old faith, — all these still bear witness to the fury of the 
Puritan soldiers, who did not respect even the graves of their 
ancestors, if those ancestors had once thought differently from 
themselves. 

511. Victories by Land and Sea ; the Navigation Act (165 1). 

Yet during Cromwell's rule the country, notwithstanding all 
the restrictions imposed by a stern military government, grew 
and prospered. The English forces gained victories by land 
and sea, and made the name of the Protector respected as that 
of Charles had never been. 

At this period the carrying trade of the world had fallen into 
the hands of the Dutch, and Amsterdam had become a more 
important centre of exchange than London. The Common- 
wealth passed a measure called the " Navigation Act "^ (1651) to 
encourage British commerce. It prohibited the importation or 
exportation of any goods into England or its colonies in Dutch 
or other foreign vessels. 

1 But part of this destruction occurred under Henry VIII and Edward VJ. 
§§ 404, 416. 

2 The Navigation Act was renewed in 1661, 1662, 1663, and 1672. Though 
aimed at the Dutch, these measures did serious damage, for a time, to the export 
trade of the American colonies. 



258 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1649-1658 

Later, war with the Dutch broke out partly on account of 
questions of trade, and partly because Royalist plotters found 
protection in Holland. Then Cromwell created such a navy as 
the country had never before possessed. Under the command 
of Admiral Blake, "the sea king," and Admiral Monk, the Dutch 
were finally beaten so thoroughly (1653) that they bound them- 
selves to ever after salute the Enghsh flag wherever they should 
meet it on the seas. A war undertaken in alliance with France 
against Spain was equally successful. Jamaica was taken as a 
permanent possession by the British fleet, and France, out of 
gratitude for assistance, gave the town of Dunkirk to England 
(1658), so that the flag of the Commonwealth was now planted 
on the French coast. 

512. Cromwell's Death; his Character (1658). — After being 
king in everything but name for five years, Cromwell died 

(Sept. 3, 1658) on the anniversary of the victories of Dunbar 
and Worcester (§ 505). During the latter part of his career 
he had lived in constant dread of assassination, and wore con- 
cealed armor. At the hour of his death one of the most fearfal 
storms was raging that had ever swept over England. To many 
it seemed a fit accompaniment to the close of such a hfe.^ 

In one sense, Cromwell was a usurper and a tyrant ; but, at 
heart, his object was his country's welfare. In such cases the 
motive is all in all. He was a man of rough exterior and hard 
manner. He cared little for the smooth proprieties of life, yet 
he had that dignity of bearing which high moral purpose gives. 
In all that he did he was eminently practical. In an age of 
isms, theories, and experiments, he was never confused and never 
faltered in his course. 

513. The Times needed Such a Man. — There are emergencies 
when an ounce of decision is worth a pound of deliberation. 
When the ship is foundering or on fire, or when the crew have 

1 Cromwell was always a lonely man, and had so few real friends that Walter 
Scott may have expressed his true feeUng when he makes him say in Woodstock : 
" I would / had any creature, were it but a dog, that followed me because it loved me, 
not for what it could make of me." 



1649-1658] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 259 

mutinied, it will not avail to sit in the cabin and discuss how it 
happened. Something must be done, and that promptly. Crom- 
well was the man for such a juncture. He saw clearly that if 
the country was to be kept together, it must be by decided 
measures, which no precedent, law, or constitution justified, but 
which stood justified none the less by the exigencies of the crisis, 
by his own conscious rectitude of purpose, and by the result. 

If there is any truth in Napoleon's maxim, that "The tools 
belong to him that can use them," then Cromwell had a God- 
given right to rule ; for, first, he had the abihty ; and, next, if 
we except his campaign in Ireland (§ 505), he employed it, all 
things considered, on the side of order and of justice. 

514. Summary. — Cromwell's original purpose appears to have 
been to-establish a government representing the will of the nation 
more completely than it had ever been represented before. He 
favored the restoration of the House of Lords, he endeavored to 
reform the laws, and he sought to secure rehgious toleration for 
the great body of Protestants. 

Circumstances, however, were often against him ; he had many 
enemies, and in order to secure peace he was obHged to resort to 
absolute power. Yet the difference in this respect between him 
and Charles I was immense ; the latter was despotic on his own 
account, the former for the advantage of those he governed. 

RICHARD CROMWELL — Sept. 3, 1658, to April 22, 1659 1 

515. Richard Cromwell's Incompetency. — Richard Cromwell, 
Oliver's eldest son, now succeeded to the Protectorate. He was 
an amiable individual, as negative in character as his father had 
been positive. With the extreme Puritans, known as the " godly 
party," he had no sympathy whatever. " Here," said he to one 
of them, pointing to a friend of his who stood by, " is a man who 
can neither preach nor pray, yet I would trust him before you 
all." Such frankness was not likely to make the new ruler popular 

1 Richard Cromwell continued to reside in the royal palace of Whitehall until 
, July, but he virtually gave up all power in April. 



26o LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1658-1660 

with the army, made up of men who never lacked a Scripture 
text to justify either a murder or a massacre. Moreover, the 
times were perilous, and called for a decided hand at the helm. 
After a brief reign of less than eight months the military leaders 
requested Richard to resign, and soon afterward recalled the 
"Rump Parliament" (§ 499). 

516. Richard retires. — The Protector retired not only with- 
out remonstrance, but apparently with a sense of relief at being 
so soon eased of a burden too heavy for his weak shoulders to 
carry. To the people he was hereafter familiarly known as 
"Tumble-down-Dick," and was caricatured as such on tavern 
sign-boards. 

The nation pensioned him off with a moderate allowance, and 
he lived in obscurity to an advanced age, carrying about with 
him to the last a trunk filled with the congratulatory addresses 
and oaths of allegiance which he had received when he became 
Protector. 

Years after his abdication it is reported that he visited West- 
minster, and when the attendant, who did not recognize him, 
showed him the throne, he said, "Yes; I have not seen that 
chair since I sat in it myself in 1659." 

517. The "Convention Parliament." — The year following 
Richard's withdrawal was full of anxiety and confusion. The 
army had turned Parliament out of doors (1659). There was 
no longer any regularly organized government, and the country 
drifted helplessly like a ship without a pilot. 

General Monk, then commander-in-chief in Scotland, now 
marched into England (1660) with the determination of calhng 
a new Parhament, which should be full, free, and representa- 
tive of the real poHtical feeling of the nation. When he reached 
London with his army, the members of the " Rump " had resumed 
their sessions. 

At Monk's invitation the Presbyterian members, whom Colonel 
Pride had driven from their seats eleven years before (§ 499), now 
went back. This assembly issued writs for the summoning of a 
" Convention Parliament " (so styled because called without royal 



1658-1660] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 26 1 

authority), and then dissolved by their own consent. Thus ended 
that memorable "Long Parliament" (§ 491), which had existed 
nearly twenty years. About a month later the Convention, includ- 
ing ten members of the House of Lords, met, and at once invited 
Charles Stuart, then in Holland, to return to his kingdom. He 
had made certain promises, called the "Declaration of Breda," ^ 
which were intended to smooth the way to his return. 

518. Summary. — Richard Cromwell's government existed in 
name only, never in fact. During his so-called Protectorate the 
country was under the control of the army or of that "Rump 
Parliament " which represented nothing but itself. 

The period which elapsed after Oliver Cromwell's death was 
one of waiting and preparation. It ended in the meeting of the 
free national ParHament, which put an end to the republic, and 
restored royalty in the person of Charles II. 

CHARLES II — 1660-1685 

519. The Restoration of Monarchy ; Accession of Charles ; a New 
Standing Army. — ^The English army heard that Charles was com- 
ing, with sullen silence ; the ex-members of the " Rump " (§ 515), 
with sullen dread ; the rest of the nation, with a feeling of rehef. 
However much they had hated the despotism of the Stuarts, four- 
fifths of the people welcomed any change which promised to do 
away with a government maintained by bayonets. 

Charles was received at Dover with the wildest demonstrations 
of joy. Bells pealed, flags waved, bonfires blazed all the way to 
London, and the King said, with characteristic irony, " It must 
have been my own fault that I did not come before, for I find no 
one but declares that he is glad to see me." 

The fact that the republic had existed was as far as possible 
ignored. The new reign was dated, not when it actually began, 

i The Declaration of Breda, made by Charles in Holland (1660), promised : — 

1. Free pardon to all those not excepted by Parliament. 

2. Liberty of conscience to all whose views did not disturb the peace of the realm. 

3. The settlement by Parliament of all claims to landed property. 

4. The payment of arrears to Monk's army. 



262 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1660-1685 

but from the day of Charles I's execution twelve years before. 
The troops of the Commonwealth were speedily disbanded, but 
the King retained a picked guard of five thousand men, which 
became the nucleus of a new standing army. 

520. The King's Character. — The sovereign who now as- 
cended the throne was in every respect the opposite of Cromwell. 
Charles II had no love of country, no sense of duty, no belief in 
man, no respect for woman. Evil circumstances and evil com- 
panions had made him " a good-humored but hard-hearted volup- 
tuary." For twelve years he had been a wanderer, and at times 
almost a beggar. Now the sole aim of his life was enjoyment. 
He desired to be king because he would then have every means 
for accomplishing that aim. 

521. Reaction from Puritanism. — In this purpose Charles had, 
the sympathy of a considerable part of the people. The Puritan 
faith (§§ 430, 469), represented by such men as Milton and 
Hampden, was noble indeed ; but unfortunately there were many 
in its ranks who had no like grandeur of soul, but who pushed 
Puritanism to its most injurious and offensive extreme. That 
attempt to reduce the whole of hfe to a narrow system of sour 
self-denial had at last broken down. 

Now, under the Restoration, the reaction set in, and the lower 
and earthly side of human nature — none the less human because 
it is at the bottom and not at the top — seemed determined to 
take its full revenge. Butler ridiculed religious zeal in his poem"; 
of "Hudibras" (§ 509), which every courtier had by heart. 
Society was smitten with an epidemic of immorality. Profligacy 
became the fashion in both speech and action, and much of the 
popular literature of that day will not bear the light. 

522. The Royal Favorites ; the Cabal (1667-1673). — The King 
surrounded himself with men like himself. They vied with each ; 
other in dissipation and in jests on each other. Charles' twc 
chief favorites were the Earl of Rochester, a gifted but ribak 
poet, and Lord Shaftesbury, who became chancellor. Both have 
left on record their estimate of their royal master. The firsj 
wrote on the door of the King's bed-chamber : — 



1660-1685] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 263 

" Here lies our sovereign lord, the King, 
Whose word no man relies on ; 
He never says a foolish thing. 
Nor ever does a wise one." 

To which Charles, on reading it, retorted, " 'Tis true ! because 
while my words are my own, my acts are my ministers'." 

A bright repartee tells us what the second favorite thought. 
"Ah! Shaftesbury," said the King to him one day, "I verily 
believe you are the wickedest dog in my dominions." " Yes, 
your Majesty," repHed Shaftesbury, " for a subject I think perhaps 
I may be." 

The new reign, from a political point of view, began decently 
and ably with the Earl of Clarendon as leading minister. But in 
a few "years it degenerated into an administration called the 
" Cabal " ^ (1667). It was simply a government of debauchees, 
whose sole object was to advance their own private interests by 
making the King supreme. 

Its character and deeds may best be learned from that picture 
of the council of the "infernal peers," which Milton portrays 
in " Paradise Lost," where the five princes of evil, Moloch, 
Belial, Mammon, Beelzebub, and Satan, meet in the palace of 
Pandemonium to plot the ruin of the world.^ 

523. Punishment of the Regicides. — The first act of Charles' 
first Parliament was to proclaim a pardon to all who had fought 
against his father in the civil war. The only persons excepted 

1 This word was originally used to designate the confidential members of the 
King's private council, and meant perhaps no more than the word " cabinet " does 
to-day. In 1667 it happened, however, by a singular coincidence, that the initial 
letters of the five persons comprising it, namely, (C)lifford, (A)shley-Cooper [Lord 
Shaftesbury], (B)uckingham, (A)rlington, and (L)auderdale, formed the word 
CABAL, which henceforth came to have the odious meaning of secret and unscru- 
pulous intrigue that it has ever since retained. It was to Charles Il's time what 
the political " ring " is to our own. 

2 Milton's Paradise Lost, Book II. The first edition was published in 1667, the 
year the Cabal came into power, though its members had long been favorites with 
the King. It has been supposed by some that the great Puritan poet had them in 
his mind when he represented the Pandemonic debate. Shaftesbury and Buckingham 
are also two of the most prominent characters in Dryden's noted political satire of 
Absalom and Achitophel, pubhshed in 1681. 



264 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1660-1685 

were the members of that high court of justice (§ 500) which 
had sent Charles I to the block. Of these, ten were executed 
and nineteen imprisoned for life. Most of the other regicide 
judges were either already out of the country or managed to 
escape soon after. 

Among these, William Goffe, Edward Whalley, and Col. John 
Dixwell took refuge in Connecticut, where they remained con- 
cealed for several years. Eventually the first two went to Hadley, 
Massachusetts, where they lived in seclusion in the house of a 
clergyman until their death. 

The bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, and Pride were 
dug up from their graves in Westminster Abbey, and hanged in 
chains at Tyburn.^ They were then buried at the foot of the 
gallows along with the mouldering remains of highway robbers 
and criminals of the lowest sort. 

524. Religious Persecution; Covenanters; Bunyan. — The first 
Parliament that met (1661) commanded the common hangman 
to pubhcly burn the Solemn League and Covenant (§ 496) ; the 
Episcopal form of worship was restored, and four severe laws 
were passed against the Nonconformists or Dissenters who had 
ejected the Episcopal clergy (§ 496).^ The first of these new 
laws was entitled the "Corporation Act" (1661). It ordered all 
holders of municipal offices to renounce the Covenant ^ which had 
been put in force in 1647, and to take the sacrament of the 
Church of England. Next, the fourth Act of Uniformity (1662) 
(§ 433) enforced the use of the Episcopal Prayer-Book upon 
all clergymen and congregations. This was followed by the 

1 Tyburn, near the northeast entrance to Hyde Park, London. It was for several 
centuries the chief place for the public execution of felons. 

2 The chief Nonconformists, aside from the Roman Catholics, were: i. The 
Presbyterians. 2. The Independents, or Congregationalists. 3. The Baptists. 4. The 
Society of Friends, or Quakers. Originally the name " Nonconformist " was given 
to those who refused to conform to the worship of the Church of England, or 
Episcopacy, and endeavored to change it to suit their views. Later, when the 
Nonconformists gave up that attempt, and asked only for permission to worship 
according to their own convictions, they received the milder name of " Dissenters." 

3 Covenant : the oath or agreement to maintain the Presbyterian faith and 
worship. It originated in Scotland. See § 490. 




ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL 



1660-1685] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 265 

Conventicle Act^ (1664), which forbade all religious assembhes 
whatever, except such as worshipped according to the Established 
Church. Lastly, the Five-Mile Act (1665) forbade all dissenting 
ministers to teach in schools, or to settle within five miles of an 
incorporated town. 

The second of these stringent retaliatory statutes, the Act of 
Uniformity, drove two thousand Presbyterian ministers from their 
parishes in a single day,^ and reduced them to the direst distress. 
The able-bodied among them might indeed pick up a precarious 
livelihood by hard labor, but the old and the weak soon found 
their refuge in the grave. 

Those who dared to resist these intolerant and inhu.man laws 
were punished with fines, imprisonment, or slavery. The Scottish 
Parliament — a Parliament, says Bishop Burnet, " mostly drunk " 
— aboHshed Presbyterianism and restored Episcopacy. It vied 
with the Cavalier or King's party in England in persecution of 
the Dissenters.^ 

The Covenanters (§ 490) were hunted with bugle and blood- 
hound, Hke so many deer, by Claverhouse and his men, who 
hanged and drowned without mercy those - who gathered secretly 
in glens and caves to worship God. Even when nothing certain 
was known against those who were seized, there was no trial.'* 
The father of a family would be dragged from his cottage by the 
soldiers, asked if he would take the test of conformity to the 
Church of England and to Charles' . government ; if not, then 
came the order, "Make ready — present — fire!" — and there 
lay the corpse of the rebel.. 

Among the multitudes who suffered in England for religion's 

1 Conventicle Act : from conventicle, a religious meeting of Dissenters. See, too, 
on these four acts, the Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page 
xviii, § 20. 2 St. Bartholomew's Day (Aug. 24), 1662. 

3 The Scottish Parliament granted what was called the " Indulgence " to Presbyte- 
rian ministers who held moderate views. The extreme Covenanters regarded these 
" indulged Presbyterians " as deserters and traitors who were both weak and wicked. 
For this reason they hated them worse than they did the Episcopalians. Burton's 
Scotland, VII, 457-468. 

4 See the poem of the " Maiden Martyr of Scotland," in Montgomery's Heroic 
Ballads, Ginn & Company. 



266 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1660-1685 

sake was a poor day-laborer named John Bunyan. He had 
served against the King in the civil wars, and later had become 
converted to Puritanism, and turned exhorter and itinerant 
preacher. He was arrested and convicted of having " devilishly 
and perniciously abstained from coming to church." 

The judge sentenced him to Bedford jail, where he remained a 
prisoner for twelve years (1660-167 2). It was, he says, a squalid 
"Denn." ^ But in his marvellous dream of "A Pilgrimage from 
this World to the Next " (if he wrote it while in prison), he for- 
got the misery of his surroundings. Like Milton in his blindness, 
loneliness, and poverty, he looked within and found that — 

" The mind is its own place, and in itself 
Can make a heaven of hell." 2 

525. Seizure of a Dutch Colony in America (1664). — While 
these things were going on in England, a disgraceful event took 
place abroad. The Dutch had established a colony in America, 
and built a town on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the 
Hudson River, which they called New Amsterdam. 

A treaty made by England with Holland under the Common- 
wealth had recognized the claims of the Dutch in the new 
world. 

Charles, however, had no intention of keeping faith with Hol- 
land; and though the two nations were at peace, resolved to 
seize the territory. He accordingly granted it to his brother 
James, Duke of York, and sent out a secret expedition to capture 
the colony in his behalf. 

One day an Enghsh fleet suddenly appeared (1664) in 
the harbor of the Dutch town, and demanded its immediate 
and unconditional surrender. The governor was unprepared to 
make any defence, and the place was given up. Thus, with- 
out so much as the firing of a gun, New Amsterdam got the 
name of New York in honor of the man who, with his royal 

i " As I walk'd through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place 
where there was a Denn, and I laid me down in that place to sleep : and as I slept I 
dreamed a dream." — The Pilgrim'' s Progress, edition of 1678. 

2 Paradise Lost, Book I, 253. 



1660-1685] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 26/ 

brother, had with characteristic treachery planned and per- 
petrated the robbery. 

526. The Plague and the Fire (1665, 1666). — The next year 
a terrible outbreak of the plague occurred in London (1665), 
which spread throughout the kingdom. All who could fled from 
the city. Hundreds of houses were left vacant, while on hundreds 
more a cross marked on the doors in red chalk, with the words 
" Lord have mercy on us," written underneath, told where the 
work of death was going on.^ 

This pestilence swept off over a hundred thousand victims within 
six months. Among the few brave men who voluntarily remained 
in the stricken city were the Puritan ministers, who stayed to 
comfort and console the sick and dying. After the plague was 
over, tlTey received their reward in the enforcement of those acts 
of persecution which drove them homeless and helpless from their 
parishes and friends (§ 524). 

The dead-cart had hardly ceased to go its rounds, when a fire 
(1666) broke out, of which Evelyn, a courtier who witnessed it, 
wrote that it "was not to be outdone until the final conflagra- 
tion."^ By it the city of London proper -was reduced to ruins, 
little more being left than a fringe of houses on the northeast.^ 

The members of the Cabal (§ 522) gloated over the destruc- 
tion, believing that now London was destroyed, the King, with 
the aid of his army, might easily crush out political liberty. 
But selfish as Charles and his brother James unquestionably 
were, they were better than the Cabal ; for both worked hero- 
ically to stop the flames, and gave liberally to feed and shelter 
the multitudes who had lost everything. 

Great as the calamity was, yet from a sanitary point of view it 

1 Pepys writes in his Diary, describing the beginning of the plague : " The 7th of 
June, 1665, was the hottest day I ever felt in my life. This day, much against my 
will, I did in Drury Lane see two or three houses with a red cross upon the door, 
and ' Lord have mercy upon us ' writ there, which was a sad sight." — Pepys' Diary, 
1660-1669. Defoe wrote a journal of the plague in 1722, based, probably, on the 
reports of eye-witnesses. It gives a vivid and truthful account of its horrors. 

2 Evelyn's Diary, 1641-1705 ; also compare Dryden's poem. Annus Mirabilis. 

3 See Map in Lof tie's London, Vol. I. See also § 64, note 2. 



268 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1660-1685 

did immense good. Nothing short of fire could have effectually 
cleansed the London of that day, and so put a stop to the period- 
ical ravages of the plague. By sweeping away miles of narrow 
streets crowded with miserable buildings black with the encrusted 
filth of ages, the conflagration in the end proved friendly to 
health and life. 

A monument near London Bridge still marks the spot where 
the flames first burst out. For many years it bore an inscription 
affirming that the Catholics kindled them in order to be revenged 
on their persecutors. The poet Pope, at a later period, exposed 
the falsehood in the lines : — 

" Where London's column pointing towards the skies 
Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies." ^ 

Sir Christopher Wren, the most famous architect of the 
period, rebuilt the city. The greater part of it had been of 
wood, but it rose from the ashes brick and stone. One irrepa- 
rable loss was the old Gothic church of St. Paul. Wren erected 
the present cathedral on the foundations of the ancient structure. 
He lies buried under the grand dome of his own grandest work. 
On a tablet near the tomb of the great master-builder one reads 
the inscription in Latin, " Reader, if you seek his monument, 
look around." ^ 

527. Invasion by the Dutch (1667). — The new city had not 
risen from the ruins of the old, when a third calamity overtook 
it. Charles was at war with France and Holland. The contest 
with the latter nation grew out of the rivalry of the two countries 
in their efforts to get the exclusive possession of foreign trade 
(§ 511). Parhament granted the King large sums of money to 
build and equip a navy, but the pleasure-loving monarch wasted 
it in dissipation. The few ships he had were rotten old hulks, 
but half provisioned, with crews ready to mutiny because they 
could not get their pay. 

A Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames. It was manned in part 
by English sailors who had deserted in disgust, because when 

1 Moral Essays, Epistle iii, 2 u Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice," 

I 



1660-1685] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 269 

they asked for cash to support their families they got only worth- 
less government tickets. There was no force to oppose them. 
They burnt some half-built men-of-war, threatened to blockade 
London, and made their own terms of peace. 

528. Secret Treaty of Dover (1670) ; the King robs the 
Exchequer (1672). — But another and still deeper disgrace was 
at hand. The chief ambition of Charles was to rule without a 
Parliament ; without suppHes of money he found this impossible. 
A way to accomphsh the desired end now presented itself. 

Louis XIV of France, then the most powerful monarch in 
Europe, wished to conquer Holland, with the double object of 
extending his own kingdom and the power of Catholicism. He 
saw in Charles the tool he wanted to gain this end. By the 
secret Treaty of Dover (1670), Louis bribed the EngHsh King 
with a gift of ^300,000 to help him carry out his scheme. 
Thus, without the knowledge of Parhament, Charles deliberately 
sold himself to the French sovereign, who was plotting to destroy 
the political liberty and Protestant faith of Holland. 

In addition to the above sum, it was furthermore agreed that 
Louis should pay Charles a pension of ^^2 60,000 a year from the 
date when the latter should openly avow himself a Catholic. 
Later (1678), Charles made a second secret treaty with Louis XIV 
to the same effect.-^ 

True to his infamous contract, Charles provoked a new war with 
the Dutch, but found that he needed more money to prosecute it 
successfully. Not knowing where to borrow, he determined to 
steal it. Various prominent London merchants and bankers had 
lent to the Government large sums on promise of repayment from 
the taxes. 

A part of the revenue amounting to about ;^i, 300,000, a sum 
equal to at least ^10,000,000 now, had been deposited in the 
exchequer, or government treasury, to meet the obHgation. The 
King seized this money,^ partly for his needs, but chiefly for his 

1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xix, § 21. 

2 '" Rob me the exchequer, Hal,' said the King to his favorite minister ; then ' all 
went merry as ?. marriage bell.' " — Evelyn's Diary, 10 Oct., 1671. 



2/0 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1660-1685 

vices. This act of treachery caused a financial panic which shook 
London to its foundations and ruined great numbers of people. 

529. More Money Schemes ; Declaration of Indulgence ; Test 
Act (1673). — By declaring war against Holland, Charles had now 
fulfilled the first part of his secret treaty with Louis (§ 528), but 
he was afraid to undertake the second part and openly declare 
himself a convert to the Church of Rome. He, however, did the 
next thing to it, by issuing a cautiously worded Declaration of 
Indulgence (1673) to all religions, under cover of which he 
intended to show especial favor to the Catholics. 

To offset this royal declaration, Parliament at once passed the 
Test Act -^ (1673), requiring every government officer to acknowl- 
edge himself a Protestant (§618). Charles became alarmed at 
this decided stand, and now tried to conciliate Parliament, 
and coax from it another grant of money by marrying his niece, 
the Princess Mary, to William of Orange, President of the Dutch 
republic, and head of the Protestant party on the continent. 

530. The So-Called "Popish Plot"; the Exclusion Bill, and 
Disabling Act (1678-1679). — While the King was playing this 
double part, a scoundrel, named Titus Gates, whose hideous face 
was but the counterpart of a still more hideous character, pretended 
that he had discovered a terrible plot. He declared that the 
Catholics had formed a conspiracy to burn London, massacre the 
inhabitants, kill the King, and restore the religion of Rome. 

The news of this alleged discovery caused an excitement which 
soon grew into a sort of popular madness. The memory of the 
great fire (§ 526) was still fresh in people's minds. In their 
imagination they now saw those scenes of horror repeated, with 
wholesale murder added. Great numbers of innocent persons 
were thrown into prison, and many executed. 

As time went on, the terror seemed to increase. With its in- 
crease. Gates grew bolder in his accusations. Chief- Justice Scroggs 
showed himself an eager abettor of the miserable wretch who swore 
away men's lives for the sake of the notoriety it gave him. In 
the extravagance of his presumption Gates even dared to accuse 
1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xix, § 21. 



1660-1685] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 2/1 

the Queen of an attempt to poison Charles. The craze, however, 
had at last begun to abate somewhat, and no action was taken. 

An attempt was now made (1679) to pass a law called the 
"Exclusion Bill," debarring Charles' brother James, the Catholic 
Duke of York, from succeeding to the crown ; but though voted 
by the Commons, it was defeated by the Lords. Meanwhile a 
second measure, called the "Disabhng Act," had received the 
sanction of both Houses (1678). It declared Catholics incapable 
of sitting in Parliament ; and from this date they remained shut out 
from all legislative power and from all civil and corporate offices 
for a period of over a century and a half (§ 618). 

531. Political Parties; the King revokes City Charters. — It 
was about this time that the names "Whig" and "Tory" (later. 
Liberal and Conservative) began to be given to two political par- 
ties, which soon became very powerful, and which have ever since 
divided the government of the country between them (§ 630). 

The term "Whig" was originally given by way of reproach to 
the Scotch Puritans, or Covenanters (§§490, 524), who refused to 
accept the Episcopacy which Charles I endeavored to impose 
upon them (§ 490). "Tory," on the other hand, was a nickname 
which appears to have first been applied to the Roman Catholic 
outlaws of Ireland, who were regarded as both robbers and rebels. 

This latter name was now given to those who supported the 
claims of the King's brother James, the Roman Catholic Duke of 
York, as successor to the throne ; while that of W^hig (or " Country 
Party ") was borne by those who were endeavoring to exclude him, 
and secure a Protestant successor.-^ 

1 Politically, the Whigs and Tories may perhaps be considered as the successors 
of the Roundheads and Cavaliers of the civil war, the former seeking to limit the 
power of the Crown, the latter to extend it. At the Restoration (1660), the Cavaliers 
were all-powerful; but at the time of the dispute on the Exclusion Bill (1679), the 
Roundhead, or People's, party had revived. On account of their petitioning the King 
to summon a new Parliament, by means of which they hoped to carry the bill shut- 
ting out the Duke of York from the throne, they were called " Petitioners," and later, 
" Whigs " ; while those who expressed their abhorrence of their efforts were called 
" Abhorrers," and afterward, " Tories." The more radical Whigs came to be known 
as the " Country Party," and at least one of their most prominent leaders (Algernon 
Sidney) was in favor of restoring the republican form of government in England. 



2/2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1660-1685 

The excitement over this exclusion question threatened at one 
period to bring on another civil war. In his fury against the 
Whigs, Charles revoked the charters of London and many other 
cities, which were regranted only on terms agreeable to the 
Tories. An actual outbreak against the Government would prob- 
ably have occurred had it not been for the discovery of a new 
conspiracy, which resulted in a reaction favorable to the Crown. 

532. The Rye-House Plot (1683). — This conspiracy, known 
as the " Rye-House Plot," had for its object the murder of Charles 
and his brother James at a place called the Rye House in Hert- 
fordshire, not far from London. It was concocted by a number 
of violent Whigs, who, in their disappointment respecting the 
passage of the Exclusion Bill (§ 530), took this method of 
securing their ends. 

It is said that they intended placing on the throne James, 
Duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles, who was popularly 
known as the " Protestant Duke." Algernon Sidney, Lord Rus- 
sell, and the Earl of Essex, who were prominent advocates of the 
Exclusion Bill (§ 530), were arrested for participating in the plot. 
Essex committed suicide in the Tower ; Sidney and Russell were 
tried, convicted, and sentenced to death on insufficient evidence. 

Both were unquestionably innocent. They died martyrs to the 
cause of liberty, — Russell, with the fortitude of a Christian ; 
Sidney, with the calmness of a philosopher. The Duke of Mon- 
mouth, who was supposed to be implicated in the plot, was 
banished to Holland (§ 538). 

533. The Royal Society (1662). — Early in this reign the 
Royal Society, for the discussion of scientific questions, was 
organized. In an age when thousands of well-informed people 
still cherished a lingering belief that lead might be changed into 
gold ; that some medicine might be discovered which would cure 
every disease, and prevent old age, that worst disease of all; 
when every cross-grained old woman was suspected of witchcraft, 
and was liable to be tortured and hanged on that suspicion ; the 
formation of an association to study physical facts was most 
significant. 



1660-1685] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 2/3 

It showed that the time had come when, instead of guessing 
what might be, men were at last beginning to resolve to know 
what actually is. Under the encouragement given by this society, 
an English mathematician and philosopher published a work 
(1687) which demonstrated the unity of the universe, by proving 
that the same law governs the falling of an apple and the 
movements of the planets in their orbits. 

It was with reference to that wonderful discovery of the all- 
pervading power of gravitation, which shapes' and holds in its 
control the drop of dew before our eyes, and the farthest star 
shining in the heavens, that the poet Pope suggested the epitaph 
which should be graven on the tomb of the great thinker in 
Westminster Abbey : — 

" Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night ; 
God said, ' Let Newton be! ' and all was light." 

534. Chief Political Reforms ; the Habeas Corpus Act ; Aboli- 
tion of Feudal Dues. — As the age did not stand still with respect 
to progress in knowledge, so it was not wholly unsuccessful in 
attempts at political reform. The chief measures were, first, 
the Habeas Corpus Act^ (1679), which provided that no subject 
should be detained in prison except by due process of law, thus 
putting an end to the arbitrary confinement of men for months, 
and years even, without conviction of guilt or even form of trial. 

An earlier reform was the abolition (1660) of the King's right 
to feudal dues and service, by which he was accustomed to extort 
as much as possible from his subjects^ (§ 200), and the substitu- 
tion of a fixed yearly allowance, raised by tax, of ;^i,2oo,ooo.^ 
This change may be considered to have practically aboHshed 

1 Habeas Corpus ad subjiciendum (1679) (that you have the body to answer) : 
this writ is addressed by the judge to him who detains another in custody, com- 
manding him to bring him into court and show why he is restrained of his liberty. 

, The right of Habeas Corpus was contained in germ in the Great Charter, § 313 (3) ; 
; and see Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xix, § 21. 

2 See Blackstone's Commentaries, II, 76. 

3 This tax should have been levied on the landed proprietors who had been 
subject to the feudal dues, but they evaded it, and by getting it assessed as an excise 
duty on beer and spirits, they compelled the body of the people to bear the burden 
for them. 



274 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1660-1685 

the feudal system in England, so far as the Crown is concerned, 
though the law still retains many remnants of it with respect to 
the relation of landlord and tenant.^ 

535. Death of Charles. — The reign came suddenly to an end 
(1685). Evelyn tells us in his Diary that he was present at 
the royal court at the palace of Whitehall on Sunday morning, 
the last of January of that year. There he saw the King sitting 
in the grand banqueting-room, chatting gayly with three famous 
court beauties, while a crowd of richly dressfed nobles were gath- 
ered around a gambling- table heaped with gold. Six days after, 
as he expresses it, all was "in the dust." 

Charles died a Roman Catholic, his brother James (§ 530) 
having smuggled a priest into his chamber in time to hear his 
confession and grant him absolution. Certainly few English rulers 
have stood in greater need of both. 

536. Summary. — The chief events of the period were the 
persecution of the Puritans, the Plague and Fire of London, the 
so-called "Popish Plot," the Rye-House Plot, and the Dutch 
Wars. Aside from these, the reign presents two leading points : 
I. The policy of the King; 2. that of the nation. 

Charles, as we have seen, lived solely to gratify his inordinate 
love of pleasure. For that, he wasted the revenue, robbed the 
exchequer, and cheated the navy ; for that, he secretly sold him- 
self to France, made war on Holland, and shamefully deceived 
both Parliament and people. 

In so far, then, as Charles had an object, it began and ended 
with himself. Therein, he stood lower than his father, who at 
least conscientiously believed in the Divine Right of Kings (§ 481) 
and their accountability to the Almighty. 

The poHcy of the nation, on the other hand, was divided. 
The Whigs were determined to limit the power of the Crown, 
and secure a^ all hazards a Protestant successor. The Tories 
were equally resolved to check the growing power of the people, 
and preserve the hereditary order of succession without any 
immediate regard to the religious question (§ 531). 

1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xviii, § 20. 



1660-1685] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 2/5 

Beneath these issues both parties had a common object, which 
was to maintain the National Episcopal Church, and the monarchi- 
cal system of government, preferring rather to cherish patriotism 
through loyalty to a personal sovereign than patriotism alone 
through devotion to a democratic republic. 

JAMES n— 1685-1689 

537. Accession of James II ; his Two Objects ; Gates gets 
his Deserts. — James, Duke of York, brother of the late king, 
now came to the throne. His first great ambition was to rule 
independently of Parliament; in other words, to have his 
own way in everything ; his second, which was, if possible, still 
nearer 4iis heart, was to restore the Roman Catholic religion in 
England (§ 530). 

He began that restoration at once ; and on the Easter Sunday 
preceding his coronation, " the worship of the Church of Rome 
was once more, after an interval of a hundred and twenty-seven 
years, performed at Westminster with royal splendor." '^ 

Not long afterward James brought the miscreant Gates to 
trial for the perjuries he had committed in connection with the 
so-called "Popish Plot" (§ 530). He was found guilty, and the 
community had the satisfaction of seeing him publicly whipped 
through London with such terrible severity that " the blood ran 
in rivulets," and a few more strokes of the lash would have ended 
his worthless life (1685). 

538. Monmouth's Rebellion ; Sedgemoor (1685). — At the time 
of the discovery of the Rye-House Plot (§532), a number of 
Whigs who were implicated in the conspiracy fled to Holland, 
where the Duke of Monmouth had gone when banished. Four 
months after the accession of James, the duke, aided by these 
refugees and by a small force which he had gathered in the Low 
Countries, resolved to invade England and demand the crown. 
He beUeved that a large part of the nation would look upon him 
as representing the cause of Protestantism, and would therefore 

1 Macaulay's England. 



2/6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1685-1689 

rally to his support. He landed at Lyme on the coast of Dorset- 
shire (1685), and there issued an absurd proclamation declaring 
James to be a usurper, tyrant, and murderer, who had set the 
great fire of London, cut the throat of Essex (§ 532), and poisoned 
Charles II ! 

At Taunton, in Somersetshire, a procession of welcome headed 
by a lady carrying a Bible met the duke, and presented him with 
the book in behalf of the Protestant faith. He received it, say- 
ing, " I come to defend the truths contained in this volume, and 
to seal them, if it must be so, with my blood." Shortly afterward 
he proclaimed himself sovereign of Great Britain. He was popu- 
larly known as " King Monmouth." Many of the country people 
now joined him, but the Whig nobles (§ 531), on whose help 
he had counted, stood aloof, alienated doubtless by the ridiculous 
charges he had made against James. 

At the battle of Sedgemoor, in Somersetshire (1685), "King 
Monmouth," with his hastily gathered forces, was utterly routed. 
He himself was soon afterward captured hiding in a ditch. He 
desired to be taken to the King. His request was granted. When 
he entered his uncle's presence, he threw himself down and crawled 
to his feet, weeping and begging piteously for life — only life — 
on any terms, however hard. 

He denied that he had issued the lying proclamation published 
at Lyme ; he denied that he had sought the crown of his own 
free will ; finally, in an agony of supplication, he hinted that he 
would even renounce Protestantism if thereby he might escape 
death. James told him that he should have the service of a 
Catholic priest, but would promise nothing more. Monmouth 
grovelled and pleaded, but the King's heart was like marble, and 
he turned away in silence. Then the duke, seeing that all his 
efforts were vain, rose to his feet and regained his manhood. 

He was forthwith sent to the Tower, and shortly afterward to 
execution. His headless body was buried under the communion- 
table of that little chapel of St. Peter within the Tower grounds, 
where the remains of Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Sir Thomas 
More, and many other royal victims, are gathered. No sadder 



1685-1689] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 2/7 

spot exists on earth, " since there death is associated with what- 
ever is darkest in human nature and human destiny." ^ 

After Monmouth's death there were no further attempts at 
insurrection, and the struggle at Sedgemoor remains the last 
encounter worthy of the name of battle fought on EngHsh soil. 

539. The Bloody Assizes (1685). — The defeat of the insur- 
gents who had rallied under Monmouth's flag was followed by a 
series of trials known, from their results, as the " Bloody Assizes " ^ 
(1685). They were conducted by Judge Jeffreys, assisted by a 
band of soldiers under Colonel Kirke, ironically called, from their 
ferocity, " Kirke's Lambs." But of the two, Jeffreys was the more 
to be dreaded. He was by nature cruel, and enjoyed the spec- 
tacle of mental as well as bodily anguish. x'\s he himself said, he 
delighted to give those who had the misfortune to appear before 
him " a lick with the rough side of his tongue," preparatory to 
roaring out the sentence of torture or death, in which he dehghted 
still more. 

All who were in the remotest way implicated in the late rising 
were now hunted down and brought to a trial which was but a 
mockery of justice. No one was permitted to defend himself. 
In fact, defence would have been useless against the blind fury 
of such a judge. The threshold of the court was to most that 
crossed it the threshold of the grave. 

A gentleman present at one of these scenes of slaughter, touched 
with pity at the condition of a trembling old man called up for 
sentence, ventured to put in a word in his behalf. *" My Lord," 
said he to Jeffreys, " this poor creature is dependent on the 
parish." " Don't trouble yourself," cried the judge ; " I will 
soon ease the parish of the burden," and ordered the officers to 
execute him at once. 

Those who escaped death were often still more to be pitied. 
A young man was sentenced to be imprisoned for seven years, 
and to be whipped once a year through every market town in the 

1 Macaulay's England. 

2 Assizes (from the French asseoir^ to sit or set) : sessions of a court ; also used 
in the singular, of a decree or law. 



2/8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1685-1689 

county. In his despair, he petitioned the King to grant him the 
favor of being hanged. The petition was refused, but a partial 
remission of the punishment was at length gained by bribing the 
court; for Jeffreys, though his heart was shut against mercy, 
always had his pockets open for gain. 

Alice Lisle, an aged woman, who, out of pity, had concealed 
two men flying from the King's vengeance, was condemned to 
be burned alive ; and it was with the greatest difficulty that the 
clergy of Winchester Cathedral succeeded in getting the sentence 
commuted to beheading. 

As the work went on, the spirits of Jeffreys rose higher and 
higher. He laughed, shouted, joked, and swore hke a drunken 
man. When the court had finished its sittings, more than a 
thousand persons had been brutally scourged, sold as slaves,, 
hanged, or beheaded. 

The guide-posts of the highways were converted into gibbets, 
from which blackened corpses swung in chains, and from every 
church-tower in Somersetshire ghastly heads looked down on 
those who gathered there to worship God ; in fact, so many 
bodies were exposed that the whole air was " tainted with 
corruption and death." 

Not satisfied with vengeance alone, Jeffreys and his friends 
made these trials a means of speculation. Batches of rebels were 
given as presents to courtiers, who sold them to be worked and 
flogged to death on West India plantations ; and the Queen's 
maids of honor extorted large sums of money for the pardon 
of a number of country school-girls who had been convicted of j 
presenting Monmouth with a royal flag at Taunton. I 

On the return of Jeffreys to London after this carnival of 
blood, his father was so horrified at his cruelty that he forbade 
him to enter his house. James, on the contrary, testified his 
approval by making Jeffreys Lord Chancellor of the realm, at 
the same time mildly censuring him for not having shown greater 
severity ! 

The new Lord Chancellor testified his gratitude to his royal 
master by procuring the murder, by means of a packed jury, of 



1685-1689] DIVINE RIGHT OF ICINGS AND PEOPLE 279 

Alderman Cornish, a prominent London Whig (§ 531), who was 
especially hated by the King on account of his support of that 
Exclusion Bill (§ 530) which was intended to shut James out 
from the throne. On the same day on which Cornish was exe- 
cuted, Jeffreys also had the satisfaction of knowing that EHzabeth 
Gaunt was burned alive at Tyburn, London, for having assisted 
one of the Rye-House conspirators, who had fought for Monmouth 
at Sedgemoor, to escape. 

540. The King makes Further Attempts to reestablish Catholi- 
cism ; Second Declaration of Indulgence (1687); Oxford. — An event 
occurred about this time which encouraged James to make a more 
decided attempt to restore Catholicism. Henry IV of France 
granted the Protestants of his kingdom liberty of worship, by 
the Edict of Nantes (1598). Louis XIV deliberately revoked it 
(1685). By that short-sighted act the Huguenots, or French 
Protestants, were exposed to cruel persecution, and thousands 
of them fled to England and America. 

James now resolved to profit by the example set him by 
Louis, and if not Hke the French monarch to drive the Protes- 
tants out of Great Britain, at least to restore the country to its 
allegiance to Rome. He began by suspending the Test Act 
(§ 529) and putting Catholics into important offices in both 
Church and State. ^ He furthermore established an army of 
thirteen thousand men on Hounslow Heath, just outside London 
(1686), to hold the city in subjection in case there should be a 
disposition to rebel. 

He next recalled the Protestant Duke of Ormonde, governor of 
Ireland, and in his place as lord deputy sent Talbot, Earl of 
Tyrconnel, a Catholic of notoriously bad character. Tyrconnel 
had orders to recruit an Irish Roman Catholic army to aid the 
King in carrying out his designs (1687). He raised some soldiers, 
but he also raised that famous song of " Lilli Burlero," by which, 

1 The Dispensing Power and the Suspending Power, by which the King claimed 
the right of preventing the enforcement of such laws as he deemed contrary to public 
good. A packed bench of judges sustained the King in this position, but the power 
so to act was finally abolished by the Bill of Rights (1689). See § 549, and top of 
page xxxii, Article XII. 



28o LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1685-1689 

as its author boasted, James was eventually "sung out of his 
kingdom." ^ 

Having got the courts completely under his control through the 
appointment of judges in sympathy with Jeffreys and with him- 
self, the King issued a Declaration of Indulgence similar to 
that which his brother Charles II had issued (§ 529).^ It sus- 
pended all penal laws against both Roman Catholics on the one 
hand, and Protestant Dissenters on the other. The latter, how- 
ever, suspecting that this apparently liberal measure was simply a 
trick to establish Catholicism, refused to avail themselves of it, 
and denounced it as an open violation of the constitution. 

James next proceeded, by means of the tyrannical High Com- 
mission Court, which he had revived (§§433, 491), to bring the 
chief college at Oxford under Catholic control. The President of 
Magdalen College having died, the Fellows were considering the 
choice of a successor. The King ordered them to elect a Catholic, 
and named at first a man of ill repute. The Fellows refused to 
obey, and elected a Protestant. James ejected the new President, 
and drove out the Fellows, leaving them to depend on the charity 
of the neighboring country gentlemen for their support. 

But the King, in attacking the rights of the college, had " run 
his head against a wall," ^ as he soon discovered to his sorrow. 
His temporary success, however, emboldened him to reissue the 

1 Lord Wharton, a prominent English Whig, was the author of this satirical 
political ballad, which, it is said, was sung and whistled from one end of England to 
the other, in derision of the King's policy. It undoubtedly had a powerful popular 
influence in bringing on the Revolution of 1688. 

The ballad began : — 

"Ho, Brother Teague, dost hear de decree? 
Lilli Burlero, bullen a-la, 
Dat we shall have a new deputie, 
Lilli Burlero, bullen a-la." 

The refrain, " Lilli Burlero," etc. (also written " LillibuUero "), is said to have been 
the watchword used by the Irish Catholics when they rose against the Protestants of 
Ulster in 1641. See Wilkins' PoUtical Songs, Vol. I. 

2 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxi, § 23. 

3 "What building is that ? " asked the Duke of Wellington of his companion, Mr. 
Croker, pointing, as he spoke, to Magdalen College wall, just as they entered Oxford 
in 1834. " That is the wall which James II ran his head against," was the reply. 



1685-1689] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 28 1 

Declaration of Indulgence (1688). Its real object, like that 
of the first Declaration, was to put Roman Catholics into still 
higher positions of trust and power. 

541. The Petition of the Seven Bishops. — He commanded 
the clergy throughout the realm to read this Declaration (§ 540) 
on a given Sunday from their pulpits. The Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, accompanied by six bishops, petitioned the King to be 
excused from reading it in their churches. The King refused to 
consider the petition. When the day came, hardly a clergyman 
read the paper, and in the few cases in which they did, the 
congregation rose and left rather than listen to it. 

Furious at such an unexpected result, James ordered the 
refractory bishops to be sent to the Tower. The whole country 
now seemed to turn against the King. By his obstinate folly 
James had succeeded in making enemies of all classes, not only 
of the Whig Roundheads (§ 531) who had fought against his 
father in the civil war, but also of the Tory Cavaliers (§ 531) who 
had fought for him. 

One of the bishops was Trelawney of Bristol. He was a native 
of Cornwall. The news of his imprisonment roused the rough, 
independent population of that county. From one end of it to 
the other the people were now heard singing : — 

" And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die ? 
There 's thirty thousand Cornishmen will know the reason why." 

Then the miners took up the words, and beneath the hills and 
fields the ominous echo was heard : — 

" And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die ? 
There 's twenty thousand underground will know the reason why." 

On their trial the popular feeling in favor of the bishops was so 
strong that not even James' servile judges dared to openly use 
their influence to convict them. When the case was given to the 
jury, the largest and most robust man of the twelve rose and said 
to the rest : " Look at me ! I am bigger than any of you, but 
before I will bring in a verdict of guilty, I will stay here until I 
am no thicker than a tobacco-pipe." That decided the matter, 



282 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1685-1689 

and the bishops were acquitted (1688). The news was received 
in London hke the tidings of some great victory, with shouts of 
joy, illuminations, and bonfires. 

542. Birth of a Prince; Invitation to William of Orange (1688). 
— But just before the acquittal an event took place which changed 
everything and brought on the memorable Revolution of 1688. 

Up to this time the succession to the throne after James rested 
with his two daughters, — Mary, who had married WiUiam, Prince 
of Orange (§ 529), and resided in Holland; and her younger 
sister Anne, who had married George, Prince of Denmark, and 
was then living in London. Both of the daughters were zealous 
Protestants, and the expectation that one of them would ascend 
the English throne on the King's death had kept the people 
comparatively quiet under the efforts of James to restore 
Catholicism. 

But while the bishops were in prison awaiting trial (§ 541) the 
alarming intelligence was spread that a son had been born to 
the King (1688). If true, he would now be the next heir to 
the crown, and would in all probability be educated and come 
to power a Catholic. This prospect brought matters to a crisis. 

Great numbers of the people, especially the Whigs (§ 531), 
believed the whole matter an imposition, and it was commonly 
reported that the young prince was not the true son of the King 
and Queen, but a child that had been smuggled into the palace 
to deceive the nation. 

On the very day that the bishops were set at liberty (§ 541) 
seven of the leading nobility and gentry, representing both 
pohtical parties,^ seconded by the city of London, sent a secret 
invitation to William, Prince of Orange, President of the Dutch 
republic (§ 529). Admiral Herbert, disguised as a common 

1 The seven gentlemen who signed in cipher the secret letter to William, Prince 
of Orange, were Henry Sidney, brother of Algernon Sidney (§ 532) ; Edward 
Russell, a kinsman of Lord Russell, beheaded by Charles II (§ 532) ; the Earl of 
Devonshire, chief of the Whig party; Lord Shrewsbury; Danby, the old Tory 
minister of Charles II ; Compton, Bishop of London, whom James II had tyrannically 
suspended; and Lord Lumley. See the letter in Dalrymple's Memoirs of Great 
Britain, II, Appendix, p. 228. 



i68 5-1689] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 283 

sailor, set out on the perilous errand to the Prince. The letter 
he carried urged William to come over with an army to defend 
his wife Mary's claim to the EngHsh throne and to protect the 
liberty of the English people. 

After due consideration, William decided to accept the invita- 
tion, which was probably not unexpected on his part. He was 
confirmed in his decision not only by the cordial approval of the 
leading Catholic princes of Europe, except, of course, Louis XIV 
of France, but also by the Pope himself, who had more than once 
expressed his emphatic disgust at the foolish rashness of King 
James.^ 

543. The Coming of William, and Flight of James, 1688. — 
William landed with fourteen thousand troops. It was the fifth 
and last great landing in the history of England.^ He declared 
that he came in Mary's interest (§ 542) and that of the EngUsh 
nation, to secure a, free and legal Parliament which should 
decide the question of the succession. James endeavored to 
rally a force to resist him, but Baron Churchill, afterward Duke 
of Marlborough, and the King's son-in-law, Prince George, both 
secretly went over to William's side. 

His troops likewise deserted, and finally even his daughter 
Anne went over to the enemy. " Now God help me ! " exclaimed 
James, in despair; "for my own children forsake me!" The 
Queen had already fled to France, taking with her her infant 
son, the unfortunate James Edward, whose birth (§ 542) had 
caused the revolution. Instead of a kingdom, he inherited 
nothing but the nickname of "Pretender," which he in turn 
transmitted to his son.^ King James soon followed his wife. 

As he crossed the Thames in a boat by night, James threw the 
great seal of state into the river, in the vain hope that without it a 
Parliament could not be legally summoned to decide the question 

1 Guizot, Histoire de Charles I (Discours sur I'Histoire de la Revolution). 

2 The first being that of the Romans, the next that of the Saxons, the third that of 
St. Augustine, the fourth that of William the Conqueror, the fifth that of the Prince 
of Orange. 

3 Prince James Edward Stuart, the so-called " Old Pretender," and his son, Prince 
Charles Edward Stuart, the so-called " Young Pretender." 



284 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1685-1689 

which his adversary had raised. The King got as far as the 
coast, but was discovered by some fishermen and brought back. 
William reluctantly received him, and purposely allowed him to 
escape a second time. He now reached France, and found 
generous welcome and support from Louis XIV, at the court of 
Versailles.^ There could be now no reasonable doubt that James' 
daughter Mary (§ 542) would receive the English crown. 

544. Character of the Revolution of 1688. — Never was a 
revolution of such magnitude and meaning accomplished so 
peacefully. Not a drop of blood had been shed. There was 
hardly any excitement or uproar. Even the bronze statue of the 
runaway king was permitted to stand undisturbed in the rear of 
the palace of Whitehall, London, where it remains to this day. 

The great change had taken place thus quietly because men's 
minds were ripe for it. England had entered upon another period 
of history, in which old institutions, laws, and customs were passing 
away and all was becoming new. 

FeudaUsm had vanished under Charles II (§ 534), but poHtical 
and religious persecution had continued. In future, however, we 
shall hear no more of the revocation of city charters or of other 
punishments inflicted because of poHtical opinion (§§ 531, 539), 
and rarely of any punishment for religious dissent. 

Courts of justice will undergo reform. They will cease to be 
"little better than caverns of murderers,"^ where judges like 
Scroggs and Jeffreys (§§ 530, 539) browbeat the prisoners, took 
their guilt for granted, insulted and silenced witnesses for their 
defence, and even cast juries into prison under penalties of heavy 
fines, for venturing to bring in verdicts contrary to their wishes.^ 

The day, too, had gone by when an EngHsh sovereign could 
cast his subjects into fetid dungeons in the Tower and leave them 
to die there of lingering disease, in darkness, solitude, and despair. 
No future king like the marble-hearted James would sit in the 

1 For the King's life at Versailles, see Doran's Monarchs retired from Business. 

2 Hallam's Constitutional History of England. 

3 See Hallam, and also introduction to Professor Adams' Manual of Historical, 
Literature. For a graphic picture of the times, read, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's i'rogress,| 
Christian's trial before Lord Hategood. 



1685-1689] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 285 

court-room at Edinburgh, and watch with curious delight the 
agony of the apphcation of the Scotch instruments of torture, 
the "boot," and the thumbscrew, or burn Unitarian heretics at 
the stake in Smithfield market place (§567). 

For the future, thought and discussion in England were to be 
in great measure free, as in time they would be wholly so, and 
perhaps the coward King's heaviest retribution in his secure 
retreat beyond the sea was the knowledge that all his efforts to 
prevent the coming of this liberty had absolutely failed. 

545. Summary. — The reign of James must be regarded as 
mainly taken up with the attempt of the King to rule indepen- 
dently of Parliament and law, and to restore the Roman CathoHc 
religion. 

Monmouth's rebellion, though without real justification, since 
he could not legitimately claim the crown, was a forerunner 
of that revolution which invited William of Orange to support 
Parliament in placing a Protestant sovereign on the throne. 

WILLIAM AND MARY (House of Orange-Stuart) — 1 689-1 702 

546. The " Convention Parliament " ; the Declaration of Right, 
1689. — After the flight of James II, a Convention which was 
practically a Parliament (§§ 517, 543) met, and declared that, 
James having broken " the original contract between king and 
people," the throne was therefore vacant. During the inter- 
regnum^ of a few weeks the Convention issued a formal state- 
ment of principles under the name of the "Declaration of Right," 
1689.2 

That document recited the illegal and arbitrary acts of the late 
king, proclaimed him no longer sovereign, and resolved that the 
crown should be tendered to WilHam and Mary.^ The Declaration 

1 Interregnum {inter, between, and regmim, a king or reign). The Convention 
met Jan. 22, 1689; William and Mary accepted the crown February 13. 

2 Declaration of Right : see Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, 
page xxii, § 24. 

3 William of Orange stood next in order of succession to Mary and Anne (pro- 
viding the claim of the newly born Prince James, the so-called " Pretender," was 
set aside). See table, § 581. 



286 LEADING FACTS OF ENG'LISH HISTORY [1689-1702 

having been read to them and having received their assent, they 
were formally invited to accept the joint sovereignty of the realm,- 
with the understanding that the actual administration should be 
vested in WiUiam alone. 

547. Jacobites and Non- Jurors (1689). — At the accession of 
the new sovereigns the extreme Tories (§ 531), who believed 
the action of the Convention unconstitutional, continued to 
adhere to James II as their lawful king. Henceforth this class 
became known as "Jacobites," from Jacobus, the Latin name for 
James. They were especially numerous and determined in the 
Highlands of Scotland and the south of Ireland. Though they 
made no open resistance at this time, yet they kept up a secret 
correspondence with the refugee monarch and were constantly 
plotting for his restoration. 

About four hundred of the clergy of the Church of England, 
including the Archbishop of Canterbury and four more of the 
famous "Seven Bishops" (§ 541), with some members of the uni- 
versities and also some Scotch Presbyterians, refused to take the 
oath of allegiance to William and Mary. They became known on 
this account as the "Non- Jurors,"^ and although they were never 
harshly treated, they were compelled to resign their positions. 

548. The Mutiny and the Toleration Acts, 1689. — We have 
seen that one of the chief means of despotism on which James II 
relied was the organization of a powerful standing army (§ 540), 
such as was unknown in England until Cromwell was compelled 
to rule by military force (§509). Charles II had perpetuated 
such an army (§ 519), but in such greatly diminished numbers 
that the body was no longer formidable. 

But it was now evident that owing to the abolition of the 
feudal levies (§§ 200, 534) such an army must be maintained 
at the King's command, especially as war was impending with 
Louis XIV, who threatened by force of arms and with the help 
of the Jacobites to restore James to the English throne. To 
prevent the sovereign from making bad use of such a power. 
Parliament passed a law called the " Mutiny Act," 1-689, which 

1 Non-Juror : from non^ not, ^j\6.Jurare, to make oath. 



1689-1702] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 287 

practically put the army under the control of the nation/ as 
it has since remained. Thus all danger from that source was 
taken away. 

James' next method for bringing the country under the con- 
trol of Rome had been to issue Declarations of Indulgence 
(§ 54b). It was generally believed that his object in granting 
these measures of toleration, which promised freedom to all reli- 
gious beliefs, was that he might place Catholics in power. As an 
offset to these Declarations, Parliament now passed the Tolera- 
tion Act, 1689, which secured freedom of worship to all religious 
believers except "Papists and such as deny the Trinity." 

This measure, though one-sided and utterly inconsistent with 
the broader and juster ideas of toleration which have since pre- 
vailed,*was nevertheless a most important reform. It put an end 
at once and forever to the persecution which had disgraced the 
reigns of the Stuarts, though unfortunately it still left the Catho- 
Hcs and the Unitarians subject to the heavy hand of tyrannical 
oppression.^ 

549. The Bill of Rights, 1689, and Act of Settlement, 1701. — 
Not many months later. Parliament embodied the Declaration 
of Right (§ 546), with some slight changes, in the Bill of Rights, 
1689,^ which received the signature of the King and became law. 
It constitutes the third and last great step which England has 
taken in constitution-making, — the first being the Great Charter 
of 12 15 (§251), and the second the Petition of Right of 1628 
(§ 484). As the Habeas Corpus Act (§ 534) was contained, in 
germ at least, in Magna Carta (§ 313 [3]), these three meas- 
ures sum up the written safeguards of the nation, and constitute, 
as Lord Chatham said, ^^ the Bible of English Liberty'' 

1 The Mutiny Act provides : i. That the standing army shall be at the king's 
command — subject to certain rules — for one year only. 2. That no pay shall be 
issued to troops except by special act of Parliament. 3. That no act of mutiny can 
be punished except by the annual reenactment of the Mutiny Bill, 

2 In 1663 Charles II granted a charter to Rhode Island which secured religious 
liberty to that colony. It was the first royal charter recognizing the principle of 
toleration. 

3 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxii, §25,a.nd 
page xxxi. 



288 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1689-1702 

With the passage of the Bill of Rights/ the doctrine of the 
Divine Right of Kings to govern without being accountable to 
their subjects (§§ 471, 481), which James I and his descendants 
had tried so hard to reduce to practice, came to an end forever. 

The chief provisions of the Bill of Rights were : i. That the king 
should not maintain a standing army in time of peace, except by 
consent of Parliament. 2. That no money should be taken from 
the people save by the consent of Parliament. 3. That every 
subject has the right to petition the Crown for the redress of any 
grievance. 4. That the election of members of Parliament ought 
to be free from interference. 5. That Parliament should frequently 
assemble and enjoy entire freedom of debate. 6. That the king 
be debarred from interfering in any way with the proper execu- 
tion of the laws. 7. That a Roman Catholic or a person marry- 
ing a Roman Catholic be henceforth incapable of receiving the 
crown of England. 

Late in the reign (1701) Parliament reaffirmed and still further 
extended the provisions of the Bill of Rights by the Act of 
Settlement, which estabHshed a new royal line of sovereigns con- 
fined exclusively to Protestants.^ This law practically abolished 
the principle of hereditary succession and reestabhshed in the 
clearest and most decided manner the right of the nation to 
choose its own rulers. According to that measure, " an Enghsh 
sovereign is now as much the creature of an act of Parliament 
as the pettiest tax-gatherer in his realm " ; ^ and he is dependent 
for his office and power on the will of the people as really, though 
of course not as directly, as the President of the United States. 

1 For summary of the bill, see Constitutional Documents in the Appendix, page 
xxxi. For the complete text, see Taswell-Langmead's Constitutional History of 
England or Lee's Source Book of English History. 

2 The Act of Settlement (see page xxxii of Appendix) provided that after Princess 
Anne (in default of issue by William or Anne) the crown should descend to the 
Electress Sophia of Hanover, Germany, and her Protestant descendants. The 
Electress Sophia was the granddaughter of James I. She married Ernest Augustus, 
Elector (or ruler) of Hanover. As Hallam says, she was " very far removed from 
any hereditary title," as aside from James H's son (§ 542), whose legitimacy no one 
now doubted, there were several who stood nearer in right of succession, 

3 Green, History of the English People. 



1689-1702] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 289 

550. Benefits of the Revolution. — Foremost in the list of 
benefits which England gained by the revolution should be placed : 
I. That Toleration Act already mentioned (§ 548), which gave 
to a very large number the right of worshipping God according 
to the dictates of conscience. 

2. Parliament now established the salutary rule that no money 
should be voted to the king except for specific purposes, and they 
also limited the royal revenue to a few years' supply instead of 
granting it for life, as had been done in the case of Charles II 
and James.^ As the Mutiny Act (§ 548) made the army depend- 
ent for its existence on the annual meeting and action of the 
House of Commons, these two measures practically gave the 
people full control of the two great powers, — the purse and 
the sword, — which they have ever since retained. 

3. Parliament next enacted that judges should hold office not 
as heretofore, at his majesty's pleasure, but during good behavior 
(or until the death of the reigning sovereign vacated their com- 
missions). This took away that dangerous authority of the king 
over the courts of justice, which had caused so much oppression 
and cruelty. 

4. But, as Macaulay remarks, of all the reforms produced by 
the change of government, perhaps none proved more extensively 
useful than the establishment of the liberty of the press. Up to 
this time no book or newspaper could be published in England 
without a license.^ During the Commonwealth Milton had 
earnestly labored to get this severe law repealed, declaring that 
"while he who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, ... he 
who destroys a good book [by refusing to let it appear] kills 
reason itself." ^ But under James II, Chief- Justice Scroggs had 
declared it a crime to publish anything whatever concerning the 
Government, whether true or false, without a license. During that 
reign there were only four places in England — namely, London, 
Oxford, Cambridge, and York — where any book, pamphlet, or 

1 Later, limited to a single year's supply. 

2 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxiii, § 26. 

3 Milton's Areopagitica, or speech in behalf of unlicensed printing. 



290 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1689-1702 

newspaper could be legally issued, and then only with the sanction 
of a rigid inspector. 

Under William and Mary this restriction was removed. Hence- 
forth men were free not only to think, but to print and circulate 
their thought (subject, of course, to the law of libel). They could 
thus bring the Government more directly before that bar of 
public opinion which judges all men and all institutions. 

551. James II lands in Ireland (1689) ; Act of Attainder 

(1689) ; Siege of Londonderry (1689) ; Battle of the Boyne 

(1690) ; Glencoe (1692) ; Peace of Ryswick (1697). — But though 
William was King of England, and had been accepted as King of 
Scotland, yet the Irish, like the Scotch Highlanders, refused to 
recognize him as their lawful sovereign. The great body of Irish 
population was then, as now, Roman Cathohc. But they had 
been gradually dispossessed of their hold on the land (§§ 454, 
475? 505)? and the larger part of the most desirable portion of the 
island was owned by a few hundred thousand Protestant colonists. 

On the other hand, James II had, during his reign, put the civil 
government and the military power in the hands of the Catholics. 
Tyrconnel (§ 540) now raised the standard of rebellion in Ireland 
in the interest of the Catholics, and invited James to come and 
regain his throne. The Protestants of the north stood by William, 
and thus got that name of Orangemen (§ 542) which they have 
ever since retained. James landed in Ireland in the spring (1689) 
with a small French force lent him by Louis XIV (§ 543). 

He established his headquarters at Dublin. Not long after- 
ward he reluctantly issued that great Act of Attainder (1689) 
which summoned all who were in rebellion against his authority 
to appear for trial on a given day, or be declared traitors, hanged, 
drawn, and quartered, and their property confiscated.^ Next, the 
Protestant city of Londonderry (§ 475) was besieged (1689). 

1 Attainder : from the Old French attaindre, to accuse, to stain. This act con- 
tained between two and three thousand names. It embraced all classes, from half 
the peerage of Ireland to tradesmen, women, and children. If they failed to appear, 
they were to be put to death without trial. James was reluctant to issue the great 
Act of Attainder of 1689, simply because he thought it contrary to his political 
interests. 



1689-1702] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 29 1 

For .more than three months it held out against shot and shell, 
famine and fever. 

The starving inhabitants, exceeding thirty thousand in number, 
were finally reduced to the last extremities. Nothing was left to 
eat but a few miserable horses and some salted hides. As they 
looked into each other's hollow eyes, the question came, Must we 
surrender? Then it was that an aged clergyman, the venerable 
George Walker, one of the governors of the city, pleaded with 
them, Bible in hand, to remain firm. 

That appeal carried the day. They declared that rather than 
open the gates to the enemy, they would perish of hunger, or, as 
some voice whispered, that they would fall " first on the horses and 
the hides, — then on the prisoners, — then — on each other I ' ' But 
at this- moment, when all hope seemed lost, a shout of triumph 
was heard. An English force had sailed up the river, broken 
through all obstructions, and the vahant city was saved. 

A year later (1690) occurred the decisive battle of the Boyne,^ 
at which William commanded in person on one side, while James 
was present on the opposite side. William had a somewhat larger 
force and by far the greater number of well-armed, veteran troops. 
The contest ended with the utter defeat of James. He stood on 
a hill at a safe distance, and when he saw that the battle was 
going against him, turned and fled to France. William, on the 
other hand, though suffering from a wound, led his own men. 
The cowardly behavior of James excited the disgust and scorn of 
both the French and Irish. " Change kings with us," shouted an 
Irish officer later, to one of William's men, " change kings with 
us, and we'll fight you over again." 

The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Limerick 
(1691), when about ten thousand Irish soldiers who had fought 
for James, and who no longer cared to remain in their own coun- 
try after their defeat, were permitted to go to France. " When 
the wild cry of the women, who stood watching their departure, 
was hushed, the silence of death settled down upon Ireland. For 

1 Fought in the east of Ireland, on the banks of the river of that name. See Map 
No. 18, facing page 346. 



292 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1689-1702 

a hundred years the country remained at peace, but the peace was 
that of despair." ^ In violation of that treaty, a severe act was 
passed against Roman Catholics; they were hunted like wild 
beasts, and terrible vengeance was now taken for that Act of 
Attainder which James had foolishly been persuaded to issue. 
Furthermore, England selfishly closed her own ports and those 
of her colonies against Irish products ; this pohcy starved the 
industry of that unfortunate island. 

Fighting against William and Mary had also been going on in 
Scotland; for Claverhouse (§ 524) was an ardent adherent of 
James II and vowed, " Ere the King's crown shall fall, there are 
crowns to be broke." ^ But the Jacobites had been conquered, 
and a proclamation was sent out commanding all the Highland 
clans to take the oath of allegiance before the beginning of the 
new year (1692). 

A chief of the clan of the Macdonalds of Glencoe, through no 
fault of his own, failed to make submission within the appointed 
time. Scotch enemies of the clan gave the King to understand 
that the chief had declined taking the oath, and urged William 
" to extirpate that set of thieves." The King signed an order to 
that effect, probably without reading it, or, at any rate, without 
understanding what was intended. 

The Scotch authorities managed the rest in their own way. 
They sent a body of soldiers to Glencoe who were hospitably 
received by the Macdonalds. After stopping with them a num- 
ber of days, they rose before light one winter morning, and, sud- 
denly attacking their friendly hosts, murdered all the men who 
did not escape, and drove the women and children out into the 
snowdrifts to perish of cold and hunger. 

They finished their work of destruction by burning the cabins 
and driving away the cattle. By this act, Glencoe, or the " Glen 
of Weeping," was changed into the Valley of the Shadow of 
Death. The blame which attaches to William is that he did 
nothing toward punishing those who planned and carried out the 
horrible massacre. 

1 Green's English People. 2 See Scott's Poems, " Bonny Dundee." 



1689-1702] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 293 

The English commander, Admiral Russell, like many of 
William's pretended friends and supporters, had been engaged 
in treasonable correspondence with James. If the latter suc- 
ceeded in recovering his crown, the Admiral hoped to make sure 
of the sunshine of royal favor. But at the last he changed his 
mind and fought so bravely in the sea-fight off La Hogue that the 
French were utterly beaten. 

The continental wars of William continued, however, for the 
next five years, until by the Peace of Ryswick,^ 1697, Louis XIV 
bound himself to recognize William as King of England, the 
Princess Anne ^ as his successor, to withdraw all support from 
James, and to place the chief fortresses of the Low Countries 
in the hands of the Dutch garrisons. The Peace of Ryswick 
marked the end of the conspiracy between Louis and the Stuarts 
to turn England into a Roman Catholic country dependent on 
France (§§ 528, 540). When William went in solemn state to 
return thanks for the conclusion of the war, it was to the new 
cathedral of St. Paul's, which Wren had nearly completed (§ 526), 
and which was then first used for public worship. 

552. The National Debt (1693) > the Bank of England 
(1694). — William had now gained, at least temporarily, the 
object that he had in view when he accepted the English crown. 
He had succeeded in drawing the English into a close defensive 
alliance against Louis XIV,^ who, as we have seen, was bent on 
destroying both the political and the religious liberty of the 
Dutch as a Protestant people. 

The constant wars which followed William's accession had 
compelled the King to borrow large sums from the London 
merchants. Out of these loans sprang the National Debt. It 
was destined to grow from less than a million of pounds to so 
many hundred millions, that all thought of ever paying it is now 
given up. The second result was the organization of a banking 
company for the management of this colossal debt ; together the 

1 Ryswick : a village of Holland, near The Hague, 

2 The second (Protestant) daughter of James II. See § 542. 

3 See Guizot, History of Civilization, Chapter XIII. 



294 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1689-1702 

two were destined to become more widely known than any of 
William's victories. 

The building erected by that company stands on Thread- 
needle Street, in the very heart of London. In one of its 
courts is a statue of the King set up (1734), bearing this 
inscription : " To the memory of the best of princes, William of 
Orange, founder of the Bank of England," — by far the largest 
and most important banking institution in the world. 

553. William's Death. — William had a brave soul in a feeble 
body. All his life he was an invalid, but he learned to conquer 
disease, or at least to hold it in check, as he conquered his 
enemies. He was never popular in England, and at one time 
was kept from returning to his native country only through the 
earnest protestation of his chancellor. Lord Somers, who refused 
to stamp the King's resignation with the Great Seal. 

There were plots to assassinate him, and many who pretended 
to sustain him were treacherous, and simply wanted a good oppor- 
tunity to go over to the side of James. Others were eager to 
hear of his death, and when it occurred, through the stumbhng 
of his horse over a mole-hill, they drank to " the Httle gentleman 
in black velvet," whose underground work caused the accident. 

554. Summary. — William's reign was a prolonged battle for 
Protestantism and for the maintenance of political liberty in 
both England and Holland. Invalid as he was, he was yet a man 
of indomitable resolution as well as indomitable courage. 

Though a foreigner by birth, and caring more for Holland than 
for any country in the world, yet, through his Irish and conti- 
nental wars with James and Louis, he helped more than any man 
of the seventeenth century, Cromwell alone excepted, to make 
England free. 

ANNE — 1 702-1 714 

555. Accession and Character of Anne. — William left no 
children, and according to the provisions of the Bill of Rights 
(§ 549)^ the Princess Anne, younger sister of the late Queen 

1 See the Bill of Rights (third paragraph) on page xxxi, Appendix. 



1 702-1714] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 295 

Mary, now came to the throne. She was a negative character, 
with kindly impulses and Httle intelligence. " When in good 
humor she was meekly stupid, and when in ill humor, sulkily 
stupid." ^ But if there was any person duller than her majesty, 
that person was her majesty's husband. Prince George of 
Denmark. Charles II, who knew him well, said, " I have tried 
Prince George sober, and I have tried him drunk, and drunk or 
sober, there is nothing in him." 

Along with the amiable qualities which gained for the new 
ruler the title of " Good Queen Anne " her majesty inherited the 
obstinacy, the prejudices, and the superstitions of the Stuarts. 
Though a most zealous Protestant and an ardent upholder of 
the Church of England, she declared her faith in the Divine 
Right^bf Kings (§§ 471, 481), which had cost her grandfather 
Charles his head, and she was the last English sovereign who 
believed that the royal hand could dispel disease. 

The first theory she never openly proclaimed in any offensive 
way, but the harmless delusion that she could reheve the sick 
was a favorite notion with her, and we find in the Lo7idon Gazette 
(March 12, 17 12) an official announcement, stating that on 
certain days the Queen would "touch" for the cure of "king's 
evil," or scrofula. 

Among the multitudes who went to test her power was a poor 
Lichfield bookseller. He carried to her his Httle half-blind, sickly 
boy, who, by virtue either of her majesty's beneficent fingers or 
from some other and better reason, grew up to be known as the 
famous author and lexicographer, Dr. Samuel Johnson.^ 

556. Whig and Tory ; High Church and Low. — Pohtically, the 
government of the country was divided between the two great 
parties of the Whigs and the Tories (§ 531), since succeeded by 
the Liberals and Conservatives. Though mutually hostile, each 
believing that its rival's success meant national ruin, yet both 

1 Macaulay's England ; and compare Stanhope's Reign of Anne. 

2 Johnson told Boswell, his biographer, that he remembered the incident, and 
that " he had a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in 
diamonds and a long black hood." — Boswell's Johnson. 



296 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1702-17 14 

were sincerely opposed to despotism on the one hand, and to 
anarchy on the other. The Whigs, setting Parliament above the 
throne, were pledged to maintain the Act of Settlement (§ 549)^ 
and the Protestant succession; while the Tories, insisting on 
hereditary sovereignty, were anxious to set aside that act and 
restore the excluded Stuarts. 

The Church of England was likewise divided into two parties, 
known as High Church and Low Church. The first, who were 
generally Tories, wished to exalt the power of the bishops and 
were opposed to the toleration of Dissenters (§§ 524, 548) ; the 
second, who were Whigs as a rule, believed it best to curtail the 
authority of the bishops, and to secure to all Trinitarian Protestants 
entire liberty of worship and all civil and political rights and privi- 
leges. Thus to the bitterness of heated poKtical controversy there 
was added the still more acrid bitterness of theological dispute. 

Addison illustrates the feeling that then prevailed by an amus- 
ing story of an earlier occurrence. , A boy who had lost his way 
in London was called a *^^ popish cur " by a Whig because he ven- 
tured to inquire for Saint Anne's Lane, while he was cuffed for 
irreverence by a Tory when, correcting himself, he asked bluntly 
for Anne's Lane. 

The Queen, although she owed her crown mainly to the Whigs 
(§ 531)? sympathized with the Tories (§ 531) and the High 
Church, and did all in her power to strengthen both. As for the 
leaders of the two parties, they seem to have looked out first for 
themselves, and afterward — often a long way afterward — for 
their country. 

During the whole reign they were plotting and counterplotting, 
mining and undermining. Their subtle schemes to secure office 
and destroy each other become as incomprehensible and as fath- 
omless as those of the fallen angels in Milton's vision of the 
Bottomless Pit. 

557. The War of the Spanish Succession (1702). — Anne had 
no sooner come to the throne than war broke out with France. It 
had its origin in the previous reign. William III had cared little 

1 See Act of Settlement in the Appendix, page xxxii. 



1702-17 14] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 297 

for England compared with his native Holland, whose interests 
always had the first place in his heart. He had spent his Hfe bat- 
tling to preserve the independence of the Dutch republic and fight- 
ing Louis XIV of France, who was determined, if possible, to annex 
the Netherlands, including Holland, to his own dominion (§ 551). 

During the latter part of William's reign the French King 
seemed likely to be able to accomplish his purpose. The King 
of Spain, who had no children, was in feeble health, and at his 
death it was probable that Louis XIV's grandson, Philip of Anjou, 
would receive the crown. 

Louis XIV was then the most powerful prince in Europe, and 
should his grandson become King of Spain, it meant that the 
French monarch would eventually add the Spanish dominions to 
his own. These dominions comprised not only Spain proper, but 
a large part of the Netherlands adjoining Holland,^ portions of 
Italy, and immense provinces in both North and South America, 
including the West Indies. Such an empire, if it came under the 
control of Louis, would make him irresistible on the continent of 
Europe, and the little, free Protestant states of Holland could not 
hope to stand before him. 

WilUam had endeavored to prevent Louis from carrying out his 
designs respecting Spain by two secret treaties, and also by a 
triple alliance formed by England, Holland, and Germany, to 
defend themselves against the prospective preponderating power 
of France. Louis XIV had signed these treaties, but had no inten- 
tion of abiding by them. When, not long afterward, the King of 
Spain died and left the crown to PhiHp of Anjou, the French 
sovereign openly declared his intention of placing him on the 
Spanish throne, saying significantly as his grandson left Paris for 
Madrid, "The Pyrenees no longer exist." ^ 

1 The whole of the Netherlands at one time belonged to Spain, but the northern 
part, or Holland, had succeeded in establishing its independence, and was protected 
on the southern frontier by a line of fortified towns. 

2 When Philip went to Spain, Louis XIV, by letters patent, conditionally 
reserved the succession to the Spanish throne to France, thus virtually uniting the 
two countries, so that the Pyrenees Mountains would no longer have any political 
meaning as a boundary. 



298 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1702-17 14 

Furthermore, Louis now put French garrisons in the border 
towns of the Spanish Netherlands, showing that he regarded them 
as practically his own, and he thus had a force ready at any 
moment to march across the frontier into Holland. Finally, on 
the death of James II, which occurred shortly before William's, 
Louis pubUcly acknowledged the exiled monarch's son, James 
Edward, the so-called "Old Pretender" (§§ 542, 543), as rightful 
sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

This, and this only, effectually roused the English people ; they 
were preparing for hostihties when William's sudden death 
occurred. Immediately after Anne came to the throne (1702) 
war was declared, which, since it had grown out of Louis' designs 
on the crown of Spain, was called the "War of the Spanish 
Succession." 

The contest was begun by England, mainly to prevent the 
French King from carrying out his threat of placing the so-called 
" Pretender " on the English throne and overturning the Bill of 
Rights (§ 549) and the Act of Settlement (§ 549), thus restoring 
the country to the Roman Catholic Stuarts. Later, the war came 
to have two other important objects. The first of these was the 
defence of Holland, now a most valuable ally; the second was 
the protection of the Virginia and New England colonies against 
the power of France, which threatened through its own American 
colonies, and through the extensive Spanish possessions it expected 
to acquire, to get control of the whole of the new world.^ 

Thus England had three objects at stake : i. The maintenance 
of Protestant government at home. 2. The maintenance of the 
Protestant power of Holland. 3. The possession of a large part 
of the American continent. For this reason the War of the 
Spanish Succession may be regarded as the beginning of a second 
Hundred Years' War between England and France (§ 289),^ 

1 At this time England had twelve American colonies extending from New Eng- 
land to South Carolina, inclusive, with part of Newfoundland, France and Spain 
claimed all the rest of the continent. 

2 During the next eighty years fighting was-going on between England and France, 
directly or indirectly, for a great part of the time. 



1702-1714] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 299 

destined to decide which was to build up the great empire of the 
future in the western hemisphere.^ 

558. Marlborough; Blenheim and Other Victories (1702-1709). 
— John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (§ 543), commanded the 
English and Dutch forces, and had for his ally Prince Eugene of 
Savoy, who led the German armies. The duke, who was known 
in the enemy's camps by the flattering name of " the handsome 
Englishman," had risen from obscurity. He owed the beginning 
of his success to his good looks and a court intrigue. In politics 
he sympathized chiefly with the Tories (§ 531), but his interests 
in the war led him to support the Whigs (§ 531). 

He was avaricious, unscrupulous, perfidious. James II trusted 
him, and he deceived him and went over to William (§ 543) j 
William trusted him, and he deceived him and opened a treason- 
able correspondence with the dethroned. James ; Anne trusted 
him, and he would undoubtedly have betrayed her if the so-called 
"Pretender" (§§ 542, 543) had only possessed means to bid 
high enough, or in any way show that his cause was likely to be 
successful. 

In his greed for money he hesitated at nothing ; he took bribes 
from army contractors, and robbed his soldiers of their pay; 
though in this he was perhaps no worse than many other generals 
of his, and even of later times.^ 

As a soldier, Marlborough had no equal. Voltaire says of him 
with truth that "he never besieged a fortress which he did not 
take, nor fought a battle which he did not win." This man, at 
once so able and so false, to whom war was a private speculation 
rather than a contest for right or principle, now opened the 
campaign. He captured those fortresses in the Spanish Nether- 
lands which Louis XIV had garrisoned with French troops to 
menace Holland ; but he could not induce the enemy to risk a 
battle in the open field. 

At length, Marlborough, by a brilliant movement (1704), 
changed the scene of the war from the Netherlands to Bavaria. 

1 See Seeley's Expansion of England. 

2 See Thackeray's Henry Esmond. 



300 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1702-1714 

There, at the Httle village of Blenheim,^ he, with Prince Eugene, 
gained a victory over the French which saved Germany from the 
power of Louis XIV. England, out of gratitude for the humiha- 
tion of her powerful enemy, presented the duke with the ancient 
royal Park of Woodstock, and built for him, at the nation's cost, 
that palace of Blenheim still occupied by descendants of the duke's 
family.^ A few days before the battle of Blenheim, a powerful 
EngHsh fleet had attacked and taken Gibraltar (1704). England 
thus gained and still holds the command of the great inland sea 
of the Mediterranean. 

In the Netherlands, two years later, Marlborough won the battle 
of Ramillies,^ by which the whole of that country was recovered 
from the French. Two years from that time Louis' forces marched 
back into the Netherlands, and were beaten at Oudenarde (1708), 
where they were trying to recover the territory they had lost. A 
year afterward, Marlborough carried the war into Northern France, 
fought his last great fight, and gained his last great victory at 
Malplaquet* (1709). The power of Louis was now so far broken 
that both England and Europe could breathe freely, and the 
English colonies in America felt that for the present there was 
no danger of their being driven into the Atlantic by either the 
French or the Spaniards. 

559. The Powers behind the Throne ; Jennings versus Masham. 
— While the war was going on, the real power, so far as the crown 
was concerned, though in Anne's name, was practically in the 
hands of Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, who held the 
office of Mistress of the Robes. She and the Queen had long been 
inseparable, and it was her influence that caused Anne to desert 
.her father (§ 543) and espouse the cause of William of Orange. 

The imperious temper of the duchess carried all before it, and 
in her department she won victories which might be compared 

1 See Map No. 16, facing page 298. 

2 Blenheim : a short distance from Oxford, The palace grounds are about twelve 
miles in circumference. The Marlborough family hold Blenheim on condition that 
they present a flag every year (August 2) to the English sovereign at Windsor Castle. 

3 Ramillies (Ram'ee-leez, English pronunciation; or Ra-me'ye')- 

4 Malplaquet (Mal'pla-ka'). 



1702-1714] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 301 

with those the duke, her husband, gained on the field of battle. 
In time, indeed, her sway over her royal companion became so 
absolute that she decided everything, from questions of state to 
the cut of a gown or the color of a ribbon, so that it finally grew 
to be a common saying that " Queen Anne reigns, but Queen 
Sarah governs." ^ 

While she continued in power, she used her influence to urge 
forward the war with France undertaken by England to check the 
designs of Louis XIV on Spain and Holland, and also to punish 
him for his recognition of the claim of the Pretender to the Eng- 
Hsh crown (§ 557). Her object was to advance her husband, who, 
as commander-in-chief of the English and Dutch forces on the 
continent, had won fame and fortune, — the first by his splendid 
ability7the second by his unscrupulous greed (§ 558). 

After a number of years, the Queen and the duchess quarrelled, 
and the latter was superseded by her cousin, a Mrs. Masham 
(171 1), who soon got as complete control of Anne as the former 
favorite had possessed. Mrs. Masham was as sly and supple as 
the duchess had been dictatorial and violent. She was cousin to 
Robert Harley, a prominent Tory politician (§ 531). Through 
her influence Harley now became Prime Minister in everything 
but name. 

The Whig war policy was abandoned, negotiations for peace 
were secretly opened, and Marlborough was ordered home in 
disgrace on a charge of having robbed the Government. Mr. 
Masham, much to his wife's satisfaction, was created a peer of 
the realm, and finally a treaty was drafted for an inglorious 
peace. Thus it was, as Hallam remarks, that " the fortunes of 
Europe were changed by the insolence of one waiting-woman 
and the cunning of another."^ 

560. Dr. Sacheverell (1710). — An incident occurred about 
this time which greatly helped the Tories (§ 531) in their schemes. 

1 For years the Queen and the duchess carried on an almost daily correspondence 
under the names of " Mrs. Morley " (the Queen) and " Mrs. Freeman " (the duchess), 
the latter taking that name because, as she boasted, it suited the frank and bold 
character of her letters. 2 Hallam's Constitutional History of England. 



302 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1702-17 14 

Now that the danger was over, England was growing weary of the 
continuance of a war which involved a constant drain of both men 
and money. Dr. Sacheverell, a violent Tory and High Church- 
man (§ 556), began preaching a series of sermons in London 
condemning the war, and the Whigs who were carrying it on. 

He also endeavored to revive the exploded theory of the Divine 
Right of Kings (§§ 471, 481), and declared that no tyranny on 
the part of a sovereign could by any possibihty justify a subject 
in resisting the royal will, with much more fooHsh talk of the same 
kind, all of which he published. The Whig leaders unwisely 
brought the preacher to trial for alleged treasonable utterances 
(17 10). He was suspended from his office for three years, and 
his book of sermons was publicly burned by the common hangman. 

This created intense popular excitement; Sacheverell was 
regarded as a political martyr by all who wished the war ended. 
A reaction against the Government set in; the Whigs (§ 531) 
were driven from power, and the Tories passed two very harsh 
laws^ against Dissenters (§ 524), though they were repealed a few 
years later. The Duchess of Marlborough now had to leave her 
apartments in the palace of St. James, and in her spite broke down 
marble mantels and tore off the locks from doors. Mrs. Masham's 
friends, the Tories (§ 531), or peace party, who had now 
triumphed, prepared to put an end to the fighting. 

561. The Peace of Utrecht^ (^7^3)- — Not long after this 
change a messenger was privately despatched to Louis XIV to 
ask if he wished for peace. " It was," says the French minister, 
" like asking a dying man whether he would wish to be cured." ^ 
Later, terms were agreed upon between the Tories (§ 531) and 
the French, though without the knowledge of the Enghsh people 
or their aUies; but finally, in 17 13, in the quaint Dutch city of 
Utrecht, the allies, together with France and Spain, signed the 
treaty bearing that name. 

By it Louis XIV bound himself: i. To acknowledge the 
Protestant succession in England. 2. To compel the so-called 

1 These were the Occasional Conformity Act (1711) and the Schism Act (1714). 
See page 308, § 567. 2 Utrecht (U'trekt). 3 Morris, The Age of Anne. 



1702-1714] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 303 

"Pretender" (§§ 543, 557) to quit France. 3. To renounce the 
union of the crowns of France and Spain ; but Philip was to retain 
the Spanish throne (§ 557). 4. To cede to England all claims to 
Newfoundland, Acadia, or Nova Scotia, and that vast region known 
as the Hudson Bay Company's Possessions. 

Next, Spain was to give up : i . The Spanish Netherlands to 
Austria, an ally of Holland, and grant to the Dutch a line of forts 
to defend their frontier against France. 2. England was to have 
the exclusive right for thirty-three years of supplying the Spanish- 
American colonists with negro slaves.-"- 

This trade had long been coveted by the English, and had 
been carried on to some extent by them ever since Sir John 
Hawkins grew so rich through it in Queen Elizabeth's time that 
he set-up a coat of arms emblazoned with a slave in fetters, that 
all might see how he had won wealth and distinction. 

562. Union of England and Scotland, 1707. — Since the acces- 
sion of James I, England and Scotland had been ruled by one 
sovereign, but each country retained its own Parhament and its 
own forms of worship. In 1707 the two countries were united 
under the name of Great Britain. 

The Established (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland and the 
Scottish laws were to be preserved. The independent Parliament 
of Scotland was given up, and the Scotch were henceforth repre- 
sented in the EngUsh Parliament by sixteen peers chosen by 
members of the Scottish peerage at the summoning of every 
Parliament ; and by forty-five (now sixty) members returned by 
Scotland to the House of Commons. 

With the consummation of the union Great Britain adopted a 
new flag, the U^ion Jack, which was formed by the junction of 
the red cross of St. George and the white cross of St. Andrew.^ 

1 This right (called the " Assiento," or Contract) had formerly belonged to France. 
By its transfer England got the privilege of furnishing 4800 " sound, merchantable 
negroes " annually ; " two-thirds to be males " between ten and forty years of age. 

2 St. George : the patron saint of England. St. Andrew : the patron saint of 
Scotland. After Ireland was united to Great Britain (1800), the red cross of St. 
Patrick was added to the flag (1801). Jack: from Jacques (French for James), 
James I's usual signature. The first union flag was his work. 



304 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1702-17 14 

563. Literature of the Period; the First Daily Paper. — The 

reign of Anne has been characterized as one of corruption in high 
places and of brutality in low, but in literature it takes rank next 
to that of Elizabeth. There was indeed no great central lumi- 
nary like Shakespeare, but a constellation of lesser ones, — such as 
Addison, Defoe, and Pope. They shone with a mild splendor 
peculiarly their own. The lurid brilliancy of the half-mad satirist 
Dean Swift was beginning to command attention; he was the 
greatest poHtical writer of the times ; on the other hand, the 
calm, clear Hght of the philosopher John Locke was near its 
setting. 

Aside from these great names in letters, it was an age generally 
of contented dulness, well represented in the good-natured medi- 
ocrity of Queen Anne herself. During her reign the first daily 
newspaper (§§474, 495) appeared in England, — the Daily 
Coiirant (1703) ; it was a dingy, badly printed httle sheet, not 
much bigger than a man's hand. The pubhsher said he made it 
so small " to save the Publick at least one-half the Impertinences 
of Ordinary News-Papers." 

Perhaps it was well this journal made no greater pretensions ; 
for it had to compete with swarms of abusive political pamphlets, 
such as Swift wrote for the Tories and Defoe for the Whigs 
(§531). It had also to compete with the gossip and scandal 
of the coffee-houses and the clubs ; for this reason the proprietor 
found it no easy matter either to fill it or to sell it. 

A few years later (17 11) a new journal appeared, of a very 
different kind, called the Spectator, which Addison, its chief con- 
tributor, soon made famous. Each number consisted of an essay 
hitting off the follies and foibles of the age, and it was regularly 
served at the breakfast-tables of people of fashion along with their 
tea and toast. 

One of its greatest merits was its happy way of showing that 
wit and virtue are after all better friends than wit and vice. These 
two dissimilar sheets, neither of which dared to publish a single 
line of parliamentary debate, mark the humble beginning of that 
vast organized power, represented by the daily press of London, 



I 



1702-1714] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 305 

which discusses everything of note or interest throughout the 
world. 

564. Death of the Queen. — The ingratitude of pubhc men 
and the furious quarrels of politicians so teased and vexed the 
Queen that she at last fell into a fatal illness. But she was not 
prayed for even in her own private chapel at St. James' Palace, 
and the report that she had breathed her last sent up the price 
of stocks at the Exchange. Her physician wrote to Swift, " I 
believe sleep was never more welcome to a weary traveller than 
death was to her." When she laid down the sceptre (17 14) the 
power of the Stuarts (§ 467) came to an end. She left no 
heir to the throne, for all of her children had died in infancy, 
except one unfortunate, sickly son who lived just long enough 
to awaken hopes which were buried with him. According to 
the terms of the Act of Settlement (§ 549) the crown now 
passed to George, Elector of Hanover, a Protestant descend- 
ant of James I of England. James Edward, son of James H, 
believed to the last that his half-sister, the Queen, would name 
him her successor ; ^ instead of that it was she who first dubbed 
him the "Pretender" (§§ 542, 543, 557).- 

565. Summary. — The whole reign of Anne was taken up with 
the strife of poHtical parties at home, and the War of the Spanish 
Succession abroad. The Whigs (§ 531) were always intriguing 
through the Duchess of Marlborough and other leaders to keep 
up the war and to keep out the so-called "Pretender"; the 
Tories (§531), on the other hand, were just as busy through 
Mrs. Masham and her coadjutors in endeavoring to establish 
peace, and with it the Divine Right of Kings. 

The extremists among them hoped for the restoration of the 
Roman Catholic Stuarts in the person of James Edward. The 
result of the War of the Spanish Succession was the defeat of 
Louis XIV and the confirmation of that Act of Settlement which 
secured the English crown to a Protestant prince. 

1 Anne and the so-called " Pretender " were children of James II by different 
mothers. 



306 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1603-1714 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE STUART PERIOD 
1603-1649 (Commonwealth, 1649-1660) ; 1660-1714 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. 

IV. LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUS- 
TRY AND COMMERCE. VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND 

CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT 

566. Divine Right of Kings; the Civil War; the Revolution of 
1688. — The period began with the attempt of James I to carry out 
his theory that the king derives his right to rule directly from God, 
and in no wise from the people. Charles I adopted this disastrous 
theory, and was supported in it by Manwaring and other clergymen, 
who declared that the king represents God on earth, and that the 
subject who resists his will, or refuses a tax or loan to him, does so 
at the everlasting peril of his soul. 

Charles' arbitrary methods of government and levies of illegal 
taxes, with the imprisonment of those who refused to pay them, led 
to the meeting of the Long Parliament and the enactment in 1628 
of the statute of the Petition of Right, or second great charter of 
English liberties. 

The same Parliament abolished the despotic courts of Star-Chamber 
and High Commission, which had been used by Strafford and Laud 
to carry out their tyrannical scheme called " Thorough." 

Charles' renewed acts of oppression and open violation of the laws, 
with his levies of Ship Money, led to the Grand Remonstrance, an 
appeal to the nation to support Parliament in its struggle with the 
King. The attempt of the King to arrest five members who had 
taken a prominent part in drawing up the Remonstrance brought on 
the Civil War and the establishment of a Republic which declared, 
in opposition to the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, that "the 
people are, under God, the origin of all. just power." Eventually, 
Cromwell became Protector of the nation, and ruled by means of a 
strong military power. 

On the restoration of the Stuarts, Feudal Tenure and the Right of 
Purveyance were abolished by Parliament (1660). Charles II endeav- 
ored to rule without Parliament by selling his influence to Louis XIV, 



1603-1714] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 307 

by the secret Treaty of Dover. During his reign, the Habeas Corpus 
Act was passed, and feudalism practically abolished. 

James II endeavored to restore the Roman Catholic religion. His 
treatment of the University of Oxford, and imprisonment of the Seven 
Bishops, with the birth of a son who would be educated as a Roman 
Catholic, caused the Revolution of 1688, and placed William and 
Mary on the throne. 

Parliament now, 1689, passed the Bill of Rights, the third great 
charter for the protection of the English people, and later confirmed it, 
1 701, by the Act of Settlement, which secured the crown to a line of 
Protestant sovereigns. The Mutiny Bill, passed at the beginning of 
William Ill's reign, made the army dependent on Parliament. These 
measures practically put the government in the hands of the House 
of Commons, where it has ever since remained. The Long Parlia- 
ment had passed a Triennial Act (1641) requiring a new Parliament 
to be summoned within three years from the dissolution of the last 
Parliament, which was to sit not longer than three years. This 
law was repealed in 1664 and reenacted under William III in 1694. 
William's war caused the beginning of the National Debt and the 
establishment of the Bank of England. 

In the reign of Anne, 1707, Scotland and England were united 
under the name of Great Britain. During her sovereignty the Whig 
and Tory parties, which came into existence in the time of Charles II, 
became especially prominent, and they have since (though lately 
under the name of Liberals and Conservatives) continued to divide 
the parliamentary government between them, — the Whigs seeking 
to extend the power of the people ; the Tories, that of the Crown and 
the Church. 

RELIGION 

567. Religious Parties and Religious Legislation. — At the begin- 
ning of this period we find four religious parties in England : i. The 
Roman Catholics. 2. The Episcopalians, or supporters of the Na- 
tional Church of England. 3. The Puritans, who were seeking to 
" purify " the Church from certain Roman Catholic customs and 
modes of worship. 4. The Independents, who were endeavoring 
to establish independent congregational societies. In Scotland the 
Puritans established their religion in a Church governed by elders, or 
presbyters, instead of bishops, which on that account got the name 
of Presbyterian. 



308 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1603-17 M 

James I persecuted all who dissented from the Church of England ; 
and after the Gunpowder Plot the Roman Catholics were practically 
deprived of the protection of the law, and subject to terrible oppres- 
sion. In James' reign Bartholomew Legate, a Unitarian, was burned 
at West Smithfield Market, London (161 2), for denying the doctrine 
of the Trinity. He was the last English martyr. Charles I greatly 
exasperated the Puritans in the English Church by his Declaration of 
Sports, which recommended games in the churchyards after service 
on Sunday. Clergymen who refused to read the Declaration to their 
congregations were dismissed from their places. 

During the period of the Civil War and the Commonwealth, 
Presbyterianism was established as the national worship of England 
and Scotland by the Solemn League and Covenant. A great many 
Episcopal clergymen were deprived of their parishes. At the 
Restoration severe laws against the Scotch Covenanters and other 
Dissenters were enforced, and retaliatory legislation drove two thou- 
sand clergymen from their parishes to starve ; on the other hand, 
the pretended Popish Plot caused the exclusion of Roman Catholics 
from both houses of Parliament, and all persons holding office were 
obliged to partake of the sacrament according to the Church of 
England. James IPs futile attempt to restore Catholicism ended in 
the*' Revolution and the passage of the Toleration Act, granting 
liberty of worship to all Protestant Trinitarians. Stringent laws 
were passed against Catholics (1700); but they were not regularly 
enforced. Under Anne the Occasional Conformity Act (1711) and 
the Schism Act (1714) were aimed at Dissenters, but they were 
repealed a few years later (17^8). 

MILITARY AFFAIRS 

568. Armor and Arms. — Armor still continued to be worn in 
some degree during this period, but it consisted chiefly of the helmet 
with breast-plates and back-plates. Firearms of various kinds were 
in general use ; also hand-grenades, or small bombs, and the bayonet. 
The chief wars of the period were the Civil War, the wars with 
the Dutch, William's war with France, and that of the Spanish 

Succession. 

LEARNING, LITERATURE, AND ART 

569. Great Writers. — The most eminent prose writers of this 
period were Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, 



1603-1714] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 309 

John Bunyan, Jeremy Taylor, John Locke, Hobbes, Dean Swift, 
Defoe, and Addison ; the chief poets, Shakespeare and Jonson (men- 
tioned under the preceding period), Milton, Dryden, Pope, Butler, and 
Beaumont and Fletcher, with a class of writers known as the " Comic 
Dramatists of the Restoration," whose works, though not lacking 
in genius, exhibit many of the worst features of the licentious age in 
which they were produced. Three other great writers were born 
in the latter part of this period, — Fielding, the novelist, Hume, the 
historian, and Butler,^ the ablest thinker of his time in the English 
Church, — but their productions belong to the time of the Georges. 

570. Progress in Science and Invention. — Sir Isaac Newton revo- 
lutionized natural philosophy by his discovery and demonstration 
of the law of gravitation, and Dr. William Harvey accomplished as 
great a change in physiological science by his discovery of the circu- 
lation oi the blood. The most remarkable invention of the age was 
a rude steam engine, patented in 1698 by Captain Savery, and so 
far improved by Thomas Newcomen in 171 2 that it was used for 
pumping water in coal mines for many years. Both were destined 
to be superseded by James Watt's engine, which belongs to a later 
period (1765). 

571. Architecture. — The Gothic style of the preceding periods 
was followed by the Italian, or classical, represented in the works of 
Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren. It was a revival, in modi- 
fied form, of the ancient Greek and Roman architecture. St. Paul's 
Cathedral, the grandest church ever built in England for Protestant 
worship, is the best example of this style. Many beautiful manor- 
houses were built in the early part of this period, which, like the 
churches of the time, are often ornamented with the exquisite wood- 
carving of Grinhng Gibbons. There were no great artists in England 
in this age, though Charles I employed Rubens and other foreign 
painters to decorate the palace of Whitehall and Windsor Castle. 

572. Education. — The higher education of the period was con- 
fined almost wholly to the study of Latin and Greek. The discipline 
of all schools was extremely harsh. Nearly every lesson was empha- 
sized by a liberal application of the rod, and the highest recom- 
mendation a teacher could have was that he was known as " a learned 
and lashing master." 

1 Bishop Butler, author of The Analogy of ReHgion (1736), a work which 
gained for him the title of "The Bacon of Theology." 



3IO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1603-1714 



GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 

573. Manufactures. — Woollen goods continued to be a chief 
article of manufacture. Silks were also produced by thousands of 
Huguenot weavers, who fled from France to escape the persecutions 
of Louis XIV. Coal was now extensively mined, and iron and pot- 
tery works were giving industrial importance to Birmingham and other 
growing towns in the midlands. 

574. Commerce. — A permanent English colony was established 
in America in 1607, and by 1714 the number of such colonies had 
increased to twelve. During a great part of this period intense com- 
mercial rivalry existed between England and Holland, each of which 
was anxious to get the monopoly of the colonial import and export 
trade. Parliament passed stringent navigation laws, under Cromwell 
and later, to prevent the Dutch from competing with English mer- 
chants and shippers. The East India and South Sea companies 
were means of greatly extending English conimercial enterprise, as 
was also the tobacco culture of Virginia. 

575. Roads and TraveL — Good roads were still unknown in Eng- 
land. Stage coaches carried a few passengers at exorbitant rates, 
requiring an entire day to go a distance which an express train now 
travels in less than an hour. Goods were carried on pack-horses or 
in cumbrous wagons, and so great was the expense of transportation 
that farmers often let their produce rot on the ground rather than 
attempt to get it to the nearest market town. 

In London a few coaches were in use, but covered chairs, carried 
on poles by two men and called " sedan chairs," were the favorite 
vehicles. Although London had been in great part rebuilt since the 
fire of 1666, the streets were still very narrow, without sidewalks, 
heaped with filth, and miserably lighted. 

576. Agriculture ; Pauperism. — Agriculture generally made no 
marked improvement, but gardening did, and many vegetables and 
fruits were introduced which had not before been cultivated. 

Pauperism remained a problem which the Government had not yet 
found a practical method of dealing with. There was Httle freedom 
of movement ; the poor man's parish was virtually his prison, and if 
he left it to seek work elsewhere, and required help on the way, he 
was certain to be sent back to the place where he was legally settled. 



1603-1714] DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE 311 



MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 

577. Dress. — In the time of Charles II and his successors the 
dress of the wealthy and fashionable classes was most elaborate and 
costly. Gentlemen wore their hair long, in ringlets, with an abun- 
dance of gold lace and ruffles, and carried long, slender swords, 
known as rapiers. Later, wigs came into use, and no man of any 
social standing thought of appearing without one. 

In Queen Anne's reign ladies painted their faces and ornamented 
them with minute black patches, which served not only for " beauty 
spots," but also showed, by their arrangement, with which political 
party they sympathized. 

578. Coffee-Houses. — Up to the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
tury ale and beer were the common drink of all classes ; but about 
that time coffee was introduced, and coffee-houses became a fash- 
ionable resort for gentlemen and for all who wished to learn the 
news of the day. Tea had not yet come into use ; but, in 1660, 
Pepys says in his diary : " Sept. 25. I did send for a cup of tee 
(a China drink) of which I never had drank before." 

579. The Streets of London. — No efficient police existed in 
London, and at night the streets were infested with brutal ruffians , 
and as late as Queen Anne's time, by bands of " fine gentlemen " 
not less brutal, who amused themselves by overturning sedan chairs, 
rolling women down hill in barrels, and compelling men to dance 
jigs, under the stimulus of repeated pricks from a circle of sword 
points, until they fell fainting from exhaustion. Duels were frequent, 
on the slightest provocation. Highwaymen abounded both in the 
city and without, and it was dangerous to travel any distance, even 
by day, without an armed guard. 

580. Brutal Laws. — Hanging was the common punishment for 
theft and many other crimes. The public v/hipping of both men 
and women through the streets was frequent. Debtors were shut 
up in prison, and left to beg from the passers-by or starve ; and 
ordinary offenders were fastened in a wooden frame called the 
"pillory" and exposed on a stage, where they were pelted by the 
mob, and their bones not infrequently broken with clubs and brick- 
bats. The pillory continued in use until the accession of Victoria 
in 1837. 



312 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1714-1727 



SECTION X 

" The history of England is emphatically the history of progress. It 
is the history of a constant movement of the public mind, of a constant 
change in the institutions of a great society." — Macaulay. 



INDIA GAINED; AMERICA LOST — PARLIAMENTARY 
REFORM — GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 

The House of Hanover (1714) to the Present Time 

George I, 1714-1727. George IV, 1820-1830. 

George II, 1727-1760. William IV, 1830-1837. 

George III, 1760-1820. Victoria, 1837-1901. 

Edward VII, 1901- 

581. Accession of George I. — As Queen Anne died without 
leaving an heir to the throne, George, Elector of Hanover, in 
accordance with the Act of Settlement (§ 549), now came into 
possession of the English crown. (See genealogical table on 
opposite page.) The new King, however, was in no haste to 
leave the quiet little German court where he had passed his fifty- 
fourth birthday, and where he would have gladly spent the rest 
of his uneventful life. 

As he owed his new position to Whig legislation (§531), he 
naturally favored that party and turned his back on the Tories 
(§ 531) J who, deprived of the sunshine of royal favor, were as 
unhappy as their rivals were jubilant. The triumphant Whigs 
denounced "the shameful Peace of Utrecht" (§561). Next, 
they impeached the three fallen Tory leaders,^ of whom Harley 

1 The three Tory leaders were: Harley, now Earl of Oxford (§559), St. John 
(Viscount Bolingbroke), and Butler (Duke of Ormonde). Bolingbroke and Ormonde 
fled to France, where the first entered the service of the " Pretender," but he was 
ultimately permitted to return to England. Ormonde never came back. Harley, 
as stated above, was sent to the Tower; while there he secretly wrote to the 
" Pretender," and offered him his services. 




BRIBING A VOTER 
(By Hogarth) 



[714-1727] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 



313 



was the chief (§ 559), on a charge of treason. The indictment 
accused them of having given up more places to Louis XIV in 
the late war than was necessary. Furthermore, they were said to 
be guilty of having intrigued to restore the house of Stuart with 
the design of making the "Pretender" king (§§ 542, 543, 564). 
Harley was sent to the Tower of London for a time ; he was then 
acquitted and released. Meanwhile his two indicted associates 
had fled to France. 

Later, the Whigs repealed the harsh religious statutes (§ 560)^ 
directed against Dissenters, which the Tories and the High 
Churchmen had enacted in the previous reign for the purpose 
of keeping themselves in power. 

582. Character of the New King. — The new sovereign was 
a selfeh, coarse old man, who in private life would, as Lady 
Montagu said, have passed for an honest blockhead. He neither 



1 The Occasional Conformity and the Schism acts, repealed 171 7-1 719. 

The House of Hanover, also called Brunswick and Guelf 
James (Stuart) I of England 



Charles I 



Charles II 



James II 
I 



1 I 

Mary, m. Anne 
William III 
of Orange, 
afterward Wil- 
liam III of 
England 



Mary, m. Wil- 
liam II of 
Orange 



Elizabeth, m. Frederick, 
Elector- Palatine,* and 
later King of Bohemia 

Sophia, m. the Elector 
of Hanover t 

George, Elector of 

Hanover, became 

George I of England, 1714 

George II 

Frederick, Prince of Wales 

(died before coming to the 

throne) 

George III 

I i 1 

George IV William Edward, 
IV Duke of 
Kent, d. 1820 

Victoria 

* Elector- Palatine : a prince ruling over the territory called Edward VII 

the Palatinate in Western Germany, on the Rhine. 

t Elector of Hanover : a prince ruling over the province of Hanover, a part of the German 
Empire, lying on the North Sea. The elector received his title from the fact that he was one 
of a certain number of princes who had the right of electing the German emperor. 



James (the 
'Old Pretend- William III 
er"), b. 1688, of Orange, 
d. 1765 became Wil- 
I liam III of 

Charles (the England, 1689 
" Young Pre- 
tender"), b. 
1720, d. 1788 



314 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1714-1727 

knew anything about England, nor did he desire to know any- 
thing of it. He could not speak a word of the language of the 
country he was called to govern, and he made no attempt to learn 
it ; even the coronation service had to be explained to him as best 
it could, in such broken Latin as the ministers could muster. 

Laboring under these disadvantages, his majesty wisely deter- 
mined not to try to take any active part in the affairs of the 
nation. He was a hearty eater and drinker, so that his table 
exercises took up a considerable portion of his time. Much of 
the rest he was contented to spend quietly smoking his pipe, or 
playing cards and laughing at the caricature pictures of the Eng- 
lish which the German ladies of his court cut out of paper for 
his amusement. As for pohtics, he let his Whig friends (§531), 
with Sir Robert Walpole at the head, manage the country in their 
own way. 

Fortunately, the great body of the English people were abun- 
dantly able to take care of themselves. Voltaire said of them that 
they resembled a barrel of their own beer, froth at the top, dregs 
at the bottom, but thoroughly sound and wholesome in the middle. 
It was this middle class, with their solid, practical good sense, 
that kept the nation right. 

They were by no means enthusiastic worshippers of the German 
King who had come to reign over them, but they saw that he had 
three good quahties : he was no hypocrite, he did not waste the 
people's money, and he was a man of unquestioned courage. But 
they saw more than this, for they realized that though George I 
might be as heavy, dull, and wooden as the figure-head of a 
ship, yet, like that figure-head, he stood for something greater 
and better than himself, — for he represented Protestantism, with 
civil and reHgious liberty, — and so the people gave him their 
allegiance. 

583. Cabinet Government; Robert Walpole, the First Prime 
Minister. — The present method of government dates in great 
part from this reign. From the earliest period of English history 
the sovereign was accustomed to have a permanent council com- 
posed of some of the chief men of the realm, whom he consulted 



I 



1714-1727] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 315 

on all matters of importance (§§ 194, 195). Charles II, because 
he found this body inconveniently large for the rapid transaction of 
business, or because he believed it inexpedient to discuss his plans 
with so many, selected a small confidential committee from it. This 
committee met to consult with the King in his cabinet, or private 
room, and so came to be called " the cabinet council," or briefly 
" the Cabinet," a name which it has ever since retained. 

During Charles IPs reign and that of his immediate successors 
the King continued to choose this special council from those 
whom he believed to be friendly to his measures, often without 
much regard to party lines, and he was always present at their 
meetings. With the accession of George I, however, a great 
change took place. His want of acquaintance with prominent 
men made it difficult for him to select a Cabinet himself, and his 
ignorance of English rendered his presence at its meetings wholly 
useless. For these reasons the new King adopted the expe- 
dient of appointing a chief adviser, or Prime Minister, who chose 
his own Cabinet from men of the political party to which he 
belonged. 

Thus Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister (1721), 
began that system (though not until the reign was far advanced) 
by which the executive affairs of the Government are managed 
to-day. The Cabinet, or " the Government," as it is sometimes 
called, now generally consists of twelve or fifteen persons chosen 
by the Prime Minister, or Premier,^ from the leading members of 
both houses of Parliament, but whose pohtical views agree in the 
main with the majority of the House of Commons.^ 

1 Now generally called the " Premier " (from the French premier, first or chief). 

2 The existence of the Cabinet depends on custom, not law. Its members are 
never officially made known to the public, nor its proceedings recorded. Its meet- 
ings, which take place at irregular intervals, according to pressure of business, are 
entirely secret, and the sovereign is never present. As the Cabinet agrees in its 
composition with the majority of the House of Commons, it follows that if the 
Commons are Conservative, the Cabinet will be so likewise; and if Liberal, the 
reverse. Theoretically, the sovereign chooses the Cabinet ; but practically the selec- 
tion is now always made by the Prime Minister. If at any time the Prime Minister, 
with his Cabinet, finds that his political policy no longer agrees with that of the 
House of Commons, he and the other members of the Cabinet resign, and the 



3l6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1714-1727 

This system, though not fully developed until the reign of 
George III, had become so well established when George II 
came to the throne, that he said, " In England the ministers are 
king." If he could have looked forward, he would have seen 
that the time was coming when the House of Commons would be 
king, since no ministry or Cabinet can now stand which does not 
have the confidence and support of the Commons. 

584. The "Pretender"; "The Fifteen" (1715) ; the Sep- 
tennial Act (1716). — The fact that George I exclusively favored 
the Whigs exasperated the opposite, or Tory, party. The 
Jacobites or extreme members of that party (§§ 531, 547) in 
Scotland, with the secret aid of many in England, now rose, in 
the hope of placing on the throne James Edward Stuart, the son 
of James II. He was called the " Chevalier " ^ by his friends, but 
the "Pretender" by his enemies (§§ 542, 543, 557, 564). 
The insurrection was led by John, Earl of Mar, who, from his 
frequent change of poHtics, had got the nickname of " Bobbing 
John." Mar encountered the royal forces at Sheriff muir, in 

sovereign chooses a new Prime Minister from the opposite party, who forms a new 
Cabinet in harmony with himself and the Commons. If, however, the Prime Minister 
has good reason for beHeving that a different House of Commons would support him, 
the sovereign may, by his advice, dissolve Parliament. A new election then takes 
place, and according to the political character of the members returned, the Cabinet 
remains in, or goes out of, power. The Cabinet now invariably includes the following 
officers : — 

1. The First Lord of the Treasury 7. The Secretary of State for Foreign 

(usually the Prime Minister). Affairs, 

2. The Lord Chancellor. 8. The Secretary of State for the Colo- 

3. The Lord President of the Council. nies. 

4. The Lord Privy Seal. 9. The Secretary of State for India. 

5. The Chancellor of the Exchequer. 10. The Secretary of State for War. 

6. The Secretary of State for Home 11. The First Lord of the Admiralty. 

Affairs. 

In addition, a certain number of other officers of the Government are frequently 
included, making the whole number about twelve or fifteen. 

1 The Chevalier de St. George : after the birth of his son Charles in 1 720, the 
former was known by the nickname of the " Old Pretender," and the son as the 
" Young Pretender." So far as birth could entitle them to the crown, they held 
the legal right of succession; but the Revolution of 1688 and the Act of Settlement 
barred them out (§ 549). 



I 



1714-1727] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 317 

Perthshire, Scotland (1715), where an indecisive battle was 
fought, which the old ballad thus describes : — 

" There 's some say that we won, and some say that they won, 
And some say that none won at a', man ; 
But one thing is sure, that at Sheriffmuir 
A battle there was, which I saw, man." 

On the same day of the fight at Sheriffmuir, the Enghsh 
Jacobites, with a body of Scotch alhes, marched into Preston, 
Lancashire, and there surrendered, almost without striking a 
blow. 

The leaders of the movement, except the Earl of Mar, who, 
with one or two others, escaped to the continent, were beheaded 
or hanged, and about a thousand of the rank and file were sold 
as slaves to the West India and Virginia plantations. The 
"Pretender" himself landed in Scotland a few weeks after the 
defeat of his friends ; but finding no encouragement, he hurried 
back to the continent again. Thus ended the rebelUon known 
from the year of its outbreak (17 15) as "The Fifteen." 

One result of this rising was the passage of the Septennial Act 
(17 16), extending the duration of Parliament from three years, 
which was the longest time that body could sit (§§ 491, 566), to 
seven years, a law still in force. ^ The object of this change was 
to do away with the excitement and tendency to rebellion at that 
time, resulting from frequent elections, in which party feeling ran 
to dangerous extremes. 

585. The South Sea Bubble (1720). — A few years later a 
gigantic enterprise was undertaken by the South Sea Company, 
a body of merchants, originally organized as a company trading 
in the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A Scotchman 
named Law had started a similar project in France, known as the 

iThe Triennial Act (§§491, 566) provided that at the end of three years Parlia- 
ment must be dissolved and a new election held. This was to prevent the sovereign 
from keeping that body in power indefinitely, contrary, perhaps, to the political feel- 
ing of the country, which might prefer a different set of representatives. Under the 
Septennial Act the time was extended four years, making seven in all, but the 
sovereign may, of course, dissolve Parliament at any time before that limit is 
reached. But now custom reduces the bngest session of ParUament to six years. 



3l8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1714-1727 

" Mississippi Company," which proposed to pay off the national 
debt of France from the profits of its commerce with the West 
Indies and the country bordering on the Mississippi River. 

Following his example, the South Sea Company now undertook 
to pay off the English National Debt (§ 552), mainly, it is said, 
from the profits of the slave trade between Africa and Brazil.^ 
Walpole had no faith in the scheme, and attacked it vigorously ; 
but other influential members of the Government gave it their 
encouragement. The directors came out with prospectuses 
promising dividends of fifty per cent on all money invested. 
Everybody rushed to buy stock, and the shares rapidly advanced 
from ;£^ioo to ;^iooo a share. 

A speculative craze followed, the like of which has never since 
been known. Bubble companies sprang into existence with 
objects almost as absurd as those of the philosophers whom 
Swift ridiculed in "Gulliver's Travels," where one man was trying 
to make gunpowder out of ice, and another to extract sunbeams 
from cucumbers. 

A mere Hst of these companies would fill several pages. One 
was to give instruction in astrology, by which every man might 
be able to foretell his own destiny by examining the stars ; a 
second was to manufacture butter out of beech trees ; a third 
was for a wheel for driving machinery, which once started would 
go on forever, thereby furnishing a cheap perpetual motion. 

A fourth projector, going beyond all the rest in audacity, had 
the impudence to offer stock for sale in an enterprise " which 
shall be revealed hereafter." He found the public so gullible and 
so greedy for gain that he sold ;^2,ooo worth of the new 
stock in the course of a single morning, and then prudently 
disappeared with the cash ; but the unfortunate investors found 
that where he went with their money was not among the things 
to "be revealed hereafter." 

The narrow passage leading to the stock exchange was 
crowded all day long with struggling fortune hunters, both men 
and women. Suddenly, when the excitement was at its height, 
ILoftie's History of London ; and see § 561. 



I 



1714-1727] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 319 

the bubble burst, as Law's scheme in France had a little 
earlier. 

Great numbers of people were hopelessly ruined, and the cry 
for vengeance was as loud as the bids for stocks had once been. 
One prominent government official who had helped to blow 
the bubble was sent to the Tower. Another committed suicide 
rather than face a parliamentary committee of investigation, one 
of whose members had suggested that it would be an excellent 
plan to sew the South Sea directors up in sacks and throw them 
into the Thames. 

586. How a Terrible Disease was conquered But among 

the new things which the people were to try in this century was 
one which led to most beneficent results. For many generations 
the gFeat scourge of Europe was the small-pox. Often the disease 
was as violent as the plague, and carried off nearly as many vic- 
tims. Medical art seemed powerless to deal with it, and even 
in years of ordinary health in England about one person out of ten 
died of this loathsome pestilence. In the early part of George I's 
reign. Lady Mary Montagu, then travelling in Turkey, wrote that 
the Turks were in the habit of inoculating their children for the 
disease, which rendered it much milder and less fatal, and that 
she was about to try the experiment on her own son. 

Later, Lady Montagu returned to England, and through her 
influence and example the practice was introduced there (1721). 
It was tried first on five criminals in Newgate who had been 
sentenced to the gallows, but were promised their freedom if 
they would consent to the operation. As it proved a complete 
success, the Princess of Wales, with the King's consent, caused 
it to be tried on her daughter, with equally good results. 

The medical profession, however, generally refused to sanction 
the practice, and the clergy in many cases preached against it as 
an " invention of Satan, intended to counteract the purposes of an 
all-wise Providence." But through the perseverance and good 
sense of Lady Montagu, with a few others, the new practice 
gradually gained ground. Subsequently, Dr. Jenner began to 
make experiments of a different kind, which led late in the 



320 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1714-1727 

century to the discovery of vaccination, by which milHons of 
lives have been saved ; this, with the discovery of the use of 
ether in our own time, may justly be called two of the greatest 
triumphs of the art of medicine. 

587. How Walpole governed (172 1). — Robert Walpole had 
been a member of the Cabinet (§ 583) during most of the first 
half of the reign of George I. He then became the first Prime 
Minister (1721), and continued in office as head of the Govern- 
ment until near the middle of the next reign, or about twenty- 
one years in all. He was an able financier, and succeeded in 
reducing the National Debt. He believed in keeping the 
country out of war, and also, as we have seen, out of bubble 
speculation (§ 585). Finally, he was determined at all cost to 
maintain the Whig party in power, and the Protestant Hano- 
verian sovereigns on the throne (§§531, 581). 

In order to accomplish this, he openly bribed members of Par- 
Hament to support his party ; he bought votes and carried elec- 
tions by gifts of titles, honors, and bank-notes, thus proving to his 
own satisfaction the truth of his theory that most men " have their 
price," and that an appeal to the pocket-book is both quicker and 
surer than an appeal to principle. But he had to confess before 
the end of his ministry that he had found in the House of Com- 
mons one "boy patriot," as he sneeringly called him, named 
William Pitt (afterward Earl of Chatham), whom neither his 
money could buy nor his ridicule move. 

Bad as Walpole's policy was in its corrupting influence on the 
nation, it was an admission that the time had come when the 
King could no longer venture to rule by force, as in the days of 
the Stuarts : it meant that the Government had been deprived 
of the arbitrary power it once wielded. Walpole was a fox, not 
a lion; and "foxes," as Emerson tells us, "are so cunning 
because they are not strong." 

588. Summary. — Though George I did little for England 
except keep the " Pretender " from the throne by occupying it 
himself, yet that was no small advantage, since it gave the 
country peace. The establishment of the cabinet system of 



1714-1727] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 32 1 

government under Sir Robert Walpole as the first Prime Minister, 
the suppression of the Jacobite insurrection, and the disastrous 
collapse of the South Sea Bubble are the principal events. 

GEORGE II — 1727-1760 

589. Accession and Character. — The second George, who was 
also of German birth, was much Hke his father, though he had 
the advantage of being able to speak broken English readily. 
His wife. Queen Caroline, was an able woman. She possessed 
the happy art of ruling her husband without his suspecting it, 
while she, on the other hand, was ruled by Sir Robert Walpole, 
whom the King hated, but whom he had to keep as Prime 
Minister (§ 587). George II was a good soldier, and decidedly 
preferred war to peace ; but Walpole saw clearly that the peace 
policy was best for the nation, and he and the Queen managed 
to persuade the King not to draw the sword. 

590. The War of Jenkins' Ear (1739). — At the end of 
twelve years, however, trouble arose with Spain. According to the 
London newspapers of that day, a certain Captain Jenkins, while 
cruising, or, more probably, smuggling, in the West Indies, had 
been seized by the Spaniards and barbarously maltreated. They, 
if we accept his story, accused him of attempting to land English 
goods contrary to law, and searched his ship. Finding nothing 
against him, they vented their rage and disappointment by hanging 
him to the yard-arm of his vessel until he was nearly dead. 

They then tore off one of his ears, and bade him take it to 
the King of England with their compliments. Jenkins, it is said, 
carefully wrapped up his ear and put it in his pocket. When 
he reached England, he went straight to the House of Com- 
mons, drew out the mutilated ear, showed it to the House, and 
demanded justice. 

The Spanish restrictions on English trade with the Indies and 
South America^ had long been a source of ill feeling. The 

1 By the Assiento (Contract) Treaty (§ 561), made at Utrecht in 1713, one 
EngUsh ship of six hundred tons burden was allowed to make one trading voyage 
a year carrying slaves to the colonies of Spanish America. 



322 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1727-1760 

sight of Jenkins' ear brought matters to a climax ; even Walpole 
could not resist the clamor for vengeance, and contrary to his 
own judgment he had to vote for war. Though Jenkins was the 
occasion, the real object of the war was to compel Spain to per- 
mit the English to get a larger share in the lucrative commerce 
of the new world. It was another proof that America was now 
rapidly becoming an important factor in the politics of Great 
Britain. 

The announcement of hostilities with Spain was received in 
London with dehght, and bells pealed from every steeple. 
"Yes," said Walpole, "they may ring the bells now, but before 
long they will be wringing their hands." This prediction was 
verified by the heavy losses the EngHsh suffered in an expedition 
against Carthagena, South America. But later Commodore Anson 
inflicted great damage on the Spanish colonies, and returned 
to England with vessels laden with large amounts of captured 
treasure. 

591. War of the Austrian Succession (1741). — On the 
death of Charles VI, of the house of Austria, Emperor of Ger- 
many, his daughter Maria Theresa succeeded to the Austrian 
dominions. France now united with Spain, Prussia, and other 
European powers to overturn this arrangement, partly out of 
jealousy of the Austrian power, and partly from desire to get 
control of portions of the Austrian possessions. England and 
Holland, however, both desired to maintain Austria as a check 
against their old enemy France, and declared war (1741). 

During this war George II went over to the continent to 
lead the English forces in person. He was not a man of com- 
manding appearance, but he was every inch a soldier, and 
nothing exhilarated him like the smell of gunpowder. At the 
battle of Dettingen, in Bavaria, he got down from his horse, and 
drawing his sword, cried : " Come, boys, now behave like men, 
and the French will soon run." 

With that, followed by his troops, he rushed upon the enemy 
with such impetuosity that they turned and fled. This was the 
last battle in which an English king took part. It was followed 



1727-1760] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 323 

by that of Fontenoy, in the Netherlands (Belgium), in which the 
French gained the victory. After nearly eight years' fighting the 
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) secured a peace advantageous 
for England.^ 

592. Invasion by the "Young Pretender " ; '* The Forty-Five." ^ 
— While the War of the Austrian Succession was in progress, the 
French encouraged James II's grandson, Charles Edward, the 
"Young Pretender" (§ 584), to make an attempt on the English 
crown. He landed (1745) on the northern coast of Scotland 
with only seven followers, but with the aid of the Scotch Jaco- 
bites (§§547, 584) of the Highlands he gained a battle over 
the EngHsh at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh. Emboldened by 
his success, he now marched into Derbyshire, England, on his 
way t5 London. He hoped that as he advanced the country 
would rise in his favor; but finding no support, he retreated to 
Scotland. 

The next year he and his adherents were defeated with great 
slaughter by "Butcher" Cumberland, as the Scotch called him, 
at Culloden, near Inverness (1746). The "Pretender" fled 
from the battle-field to the Hebrides. After wandering in those 
islands for many months he escaped to France through the devo- 
tion and courage of the Scottish heroine. Flora Macdonald. 
When he left the country his Highland sympathizers lost all 
hope. There were no more ringing Jacobite songs, sung over 
bowls of steaming punch, of "Who '11 be king but Charlie? " and 
"Over the water to Charlie"; and when (1788) Prince Charles 
Edward died in Rome, the unfortunate house of Stuart disappeared 
from history.^ 

1 Aix-la-Chapelle (Aks-la-Sha'pel'). 2 So called from the Scotch rising of 1745. 

8 Devoted loyalty to a hopeless cause was never more truly or pathetically 
expressed than in some of these Jacobite songs, notably in those of Scotland, in 
honor of Prince Charles Edward, the " Young Pretender," of which the following 
lines are an example : — 

" Over the water, and over the sea, 
And over the water to Charlie ; 
Come weal, come woe, we '11 gather and go, 
And live or die with Charlie." 

See Scott's Redgauntlet. 



324 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1727-17,60 

593. War in the East; the Black Hole of Calcutta; Clive's 
Victories; English Empire of India (1751-1757). — In India the 
English had long had important trading-posts at Madras,^ Bombay, 
Calcutta, and other points, but they had not had control of the 
country, which was governed by native princes. The French also 
had established an important trading-post at Pondicherry, south 
of Madras, and were now secretly planning through alliance with 
the native rulers to get possession of the entire country. They 
had met with some success in their efforts, and the times seemed 
to favor their gaining still greater influence unless some decided 
measures should be taken to prevent them. 

At this juncture Robert Clive, a young man who had been 
employed as clerk in the service of the English East India Com- 
pany, but who had obtained a humble position in the army, 
obtained permission to try his hand at driving back the enemy. 
It was the very work for which he was fitted. He met with suc- 
cess from the first, and he followed it up by the splendid victory 
of Arcot (1751), which practically gave the English control of 
Southern India. Shortly after that, Clive returned to England. 

During his absence the native prince of Bengal undertook an 
expedition against Calcutta, a wealthy British trading-post. He 
captured the fort which protected it (1756), and seizing the prin- 
cipal English residents, one hundred and forty-six in number, 
drove them at the point of the sword into a prison called the 
"Black Hole," less than twenty feet square and having but two 
small windows. 

In such a climate, in the fierce heat of midsummer, that dun- 
geon would have been too close for a single European captive ; 
to crowd it with more than seven score persons for a night 
meant death by all the agonies of heat, thirst, and suffocation. In 
vain they endeavored to bribe the guard to transfer part of 
them to another room, in vain they begged for mercy and tried 
to burst the door. Their jailers only mocked them and would 
do nothing. 

Then, says Macaulay, " the prisoners went mad with despair ; 

1 The English got possession of Madras — their first Indian territory — in 1639. 

♦ 




SKETCH MAP OF 

IIVDIA 

SCALE OF MILES 



100 200 300 400 500 600 

The.shaded portion in.the north-- 
east shows the tenniUmy acquired 
tij theJEnglish inJ765 dsa result of 
Olive's victory atJ'Iassey.in i757. 



Longitude East - 80 from Greejiwidli 



1727-1760] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 325 

they trampled each other down, they fought to get at the win- 
dows, they fought for the pittance of water which was given them, 
they raved, prayed, blasphemed, and implored the guards to fire 
upon them. At length the tumult died away in low gasps and 
moanings. 

" When daylight came and the dungeon was opened, the floor 
was heaped with mutilated half-putrescent corpses. Out of the 
hundred and forty-six, one of whom was a woman, only twenty- 
three were alive, and they were so changed, so feeble, so ghastly, 
that their own mothers would not have known them." 

When Clive returned he was met with a cry for vengeance. 
He gathered his troops, recovered Calcutta, and ended by fight- 
ing that great battle of Plassey (1757), which was the means of 
permanently establishing the Enghsh empire in India on a firm 
foundation.-^ 

594. The Seven Years' War in Europe and America, 1756- 
1763. — Before the contest had closed by which England won 
her Asiatic dominions, a new war had broken out. In the fifth 
year (1756) of the New Style ^ of reckoning time, the aggressive 
designs of Frederick the Great of Prussia caused such alarm that 
a grand alliance was formed by France, Russia, Austria, and 
Poland to check his further advance. Great Britain, however, 
gave her support to Frederick, in the hope of humbling her old 
enemy France, who, in addition to her attempts to oust the 
English from India, was also making preparations on a grand 
scale to get possession of America. 



1 See Map No. 17, facing page 324 ; and see Macaulay's Essay on Clive. 

2 The New Style was introduced into Great Britain in 1752. Owing to a slight 
error in the calendar, the year had, in the course of centuries, been gradually losing, 
so that in 1752 it was eleven days short of what the true computation would make 
it. Pope Gregory corrected the error in 1582, and his calendar was adopted in nearly 
every country of Europe except Great Britain and Russia, both of which regarded 
the change as a " popish measure." But in 1 751, notwithstanding the popular out- 
cry, Sept. 3, 1752, was made September 14, by an act of Parliament, and by the same 
act the beginning of the legal year was altered from March 25 to January i. The pop- 
ular clamor against the reform is illustrated in Hogarth's picture of an Election Feast, 
in which the People's party carry a banner, with the inscription, " Give us back our 
eleven days." 



326 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1727-1760 

Every victory, therefore, which the British forces could gain in 
Europe would, by crippling the French, make the ultimate victory 
in America so much the more certain ; so that we may look upon 
the alliance with Frederick as an indirect means employed by 
England to protect her colonies on the other side of the Atlantic. 
These had now extended along the entire coast, from the Kennebec 
River, in Maine, to the borders of Florida. 

The French, on the other hand, had planted colonies at Quebec 
and Montreal, on the St. Lawrence ; at Detroit, on the Great 
Lakes ; at New Orleans and other points on the Mississippi. 
They had also begun to build a line of forts along the Ohio River, 
which, when completed, would connect their northern and south- 
ern colonies, and thus secure to them the whole country west of 
the Alleghanies. They expected to conquer the East as well, 
and to erase Virginia, New England, and all other colonial titles 
from the map, inscribing in their place the name of New France. 

During the first part of the war, the English were unsuccessful. 
In an attempt to take Fort Duquesne,^ General Braddock met 
with a crushing defeat (1756) from the combined French and 
Indian forces, which would indeed have proved his utter destruc- 
tion had not a young Virginian named George Washington saved 
a remnant of his troops by his calmness and courage. Not long 
afterward, a second expedition was sent out against the French 
fort, in which Washington led the advance. The garrison fled at 
his approach, the English colors were run up, and the place was 
named Pittsburgh, in honor of William Pitt, then Secretary of 
State, but virtually Prime Minister (§ 587) of England. 

About the same time, the EngUsh took the forts on the Bay of 
Fundy, and drove out a number of thousand French settlers from 
Acadia.^ This gave them control of Nova Scotia. Other suc- 
cesses followed, by which they obtained possession of important 
points. Finally, Canada was won from the French by Wolfe's 
victory over Montcalm, at Quebec (1759), where both gallant 
soldiers verified the truth of the lines, " The paths of glory lead 

1 Duquesne (Doo-kane'). 

2 See Montgomery's Leading Facts of American History, § 142, and note. 



1727-1760] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 327 

but to the grave," ^ which the English general had quoted to 
some brother officers the evening before the attack. This ended 
the war. 

Spain now ceded Florida to Great Britain, so that, when peace 
was made in 1763, the Enghsh flag waved over the whole eastern 
half of the American continent, from the Atlantic to the Missis- 
sippi. Thus, within a comparatively few years, England had 
gained an empire in the east (India), and another in the west 
(America). 

Six years later (1769) Captain Cook explored and mapped the 
coast of New Zealand, and next the eastern coast of the island- 
continent of Australia. Before the middle of the following cen- 
tury both these countries were added to the possessions of Great 
Britain. Then her "morning drum-beat, following the sun and 
keeping company with the hours," Hterally circled " the earth 
with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of 
England." ^ 

595. Moral Condition of England; Intemperance; Rise of the 
Methodists (1739). — But grand as were the mihtary successes 
of the British arms, the reign of George II was morally torpid. 
With the exception of a few public men like Pitt, the majority of 
the Whig party (§531) seemed animated by no higher motive 
than self-interest. It was an age whose want of faith, coarse- 
ness, and brutality were well portrayed by Hogarth's pencil and 
Fielding's pen. 

For a long time intemperance had been steadily on the increase ; 
strong drink had taken the place of beer, and every attempt to 
restrict the traffic was met at the elections by the popular cry, 
" No gin, no king." The London taverns were thronged day and 

^ " The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike the inevitable hour ; 
The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

Gray's Elegy {1730). 

" I would rather be the author of that poem," said Wolfe, " than to have the glory of 
beating the French to-morrow." Wolfe and Montcalm were both mortally wounded 
and died within a few hours of each other. 
2 Daniel Webster, speech of May 7, 1834. 



328 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1727-1760 

night, and in the windows of those frequented by the lowest class, 
placards were exhibited with the tempting announcement, " Drunk 
for a penny ; dead drunk for twopence ; clean straw for nothing." 
On the straw lay men and women in beastly helplessness. 

Among the upper classes matters were hardly better. It was 
a common thing for great statesmen to drink at public dinners 
until one by one they slid out of their seats and disappeared under 
the table ; and Robert Walpole, the late Prime Minister of Eng- 
land (§§ 583, 587), said that when he was a young man his father 
would say to him as he poured out the wine, " Come, Robert, 
you shall drink twice while I drink once, for I will not permit 
the son in his sober senses to be witness of the intoxication of 
his father." ^ 

Such was the condition of England when a great religious revival 
began (1739). Its leader was a student at Oxford, named John 
Wesley. He, with his brother Charles and a few others, was 
accustomed to meet at certain hours for devotional exercises. 
The regularity of their meetings, and of their habits generally, got 
for them the name of "Methodists," which, like "Quaker" and 
many another nickname of the kind, was destined to become a 
title of respect and honor. 

At first Wesley had no intention of separating from the Church 
of England, but labored only to quicken it to new life ; eventually, 
however, he found it best to begin a more extended and inde- 
pendent movement. The revival swept over England with its 
regenerating influence, and was carried by Wesley and Whitefield 
across the sea to America.^ It was especially powerful among 
those who had hitherto scoffed at both church and Bible. Rough 
and hardened men were touched and melted to tears of repent- 
ance by the fervor of this Oxford graduate, whom neither threats 
nor ridicule could turn aside from his one great purpose of 
saving souls. 

Unlike the Church, Wesley did not ask the multitude to come 

1 See Coxe's Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole, and Lecky's England in the 
Eighteenth Century. 

2 See Montgomery's Leading Facts of American History, § 129. 



1727-1760] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 329 

to him ; he went to them. He rode on horseback from one end 
of the country to the other, making known the glad tidings of 
Christian hope. He preached in the fields, under trees which 
are still known throughout England by the expressive name of 
"Gospel Oaks"; he spoke in the abandoned mining pits of 
Cornwall, at the corners of the streets, in cities, on the docks, 
in the slums ; in fact, wherever he could find listening ears and 
responsive hearts. 

If we except the great Puritan movement of the seventeenth 
century (§§ 430, 469), no such appeal had been heard since the 
days when Augustine and his band of monks set forth on their 
mission among the barbarous Saxons (§ 78). The results answered 
fully to the zeal that awakened them. Better than the growing 
prosperity of extending commerce, better than all the conquests 
in the east or west, was the new religious spirit which stirred the 
people of both England and America. It provoked the National 
Church to emulation in good works ; it planted schools, checked 
intemperance, and brought into vigorous activity all that was best 
and bravest in a race that when true to itself is excelled by none. 

596. Summary. — The history of the reign may be summed 
up in the great religious movement which has just been described, 
and in the Asiatic, continental, and American wars with France, 
which ended in the extension of the power of Great Britain 
in both hemispheres, — in India in the old world, and in North 
America in the new. 

GEORGE III — 1 760-1 820 

597. Accession and Character; the King's Struggle with the 
Whigs. — By the death of George II his grandson,^ George III, 
now came to the throne. The new King was a man of excellent 
character, who prided himself on having been born an English- 
man. He had the best interests of his country at heart, but 
he lacked many of the quahties necessary to a great ruler, and, 

1 Frederick, Prince of Wales, George II's son, died before his father, leaving his 
son George heir to the throne. See table, § 581. 



330 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

although thoroughly conscientious, he was narrow and stubborn 
to the last degree. 

His mother, who had seen how ministers and parties ruled in 
England (§ 583), resolved that her son should have the control. 
Her constant injunction to the young prince was, " Be King, 
George, be King ! " so that when he came to power George was 
determined to be King if self-will could make him one.^ 

But beneath this spirit of self-will there was moral principle. 
In being King, George HI intended to carry out a reform such 
as neither George I nor George II could have accomphshed, sup- 
posing that either one had possessed the will to undertake it. 

The great Whig (§§ 531, 581) families of rank and wealth had 
now held uninterrupted possession of the government for nearly 
half a century. Their influence was so supreme that the sov- 
ereign had practically become a mere cipher, dependent for his 
authority on the political support which he received. The King 
was resolved that this state of things should continue no longer. 
He was determined to reassert the royal authority, secure a 
government which should reflect his principles, and have a min- 
istry to whom he could dictate, instead of one that dictated 
to him. 

For a long time he struggled in vain, but at last succeeded, 
and found in Lord North a Prime Minister who bowed to the 
royal will, and endeavored to carry out George Ill's favorite 
policy of " governing for, but never by, the people." That policy 
finally resulted in calling forth Mr. Dunning's famous resolution 
in the House of Commons (1780) that the King's influence "had 
increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished." But it 
had other consequences, which, as we shall presently see, were 
more far-reaching and disastrous than any one in the House of 
Commons then imagined. 

598. Taxation of the American Colonies. — The wars of the two 
preceding reigns had largely increased the National Debt (§ 552), 
and the Government resolved to compel the American colonies 
to share in a more direct degree than they had yet done the 

1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxv, § 28. 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 33 1 

constantly increasing burden of taxation. England then, like 
all other European countries, regarded her colonies in a totally 
different way from what she does at present. 

It was an open question at that time whether colonial legislative 
rights existed save as a matter of concession or favor on the part 
of the Home Government. It is true that the Government had 
found it expedient to grant or recognize such rights, but it had 
seldom defined them clearly, and in many important respects no 
one knew just what the settlers of Virginia or Massachusetts 
might or might not do.^ 

The general theory of the mother-country was that the colonies 
were convenient receptacles for the surplus population, good or 
bad, of the British Islands; next, that they were valuable as 
sources^of revenue and profit, politically and commercially ; and 
lastly, that they furnished excellent opportunities for the king's 
friends to get office and make fortunes. Such was the feeling 
about India, and such, modified by difference of circumstances, 
it was respecting America. 

Politically the English colonists in America enjoyed a large 
measure of liberty. So far as local legislation was concerned, 
they were in most cases practically self-governing and indepen- 
dent. So, too, their personal rights were carefully safeguarded. 
On the other hand, the commercial policy of England toward her 
colonies, though severely restrictive, was far less so than that of 
Spain or France toward theirs. The Navigation Laws (§ 511) 
compelled the Americans to confine their trade to England alone, 
or to such foreign ports as she directed. If they sent a hogshead 
of tobacco or a barrel of salt fish to another country by any 
but an English or a colonial built vessel, they were legally liable 
to forfeit their goods. But, as a matter of fact, this law had 
not been rigidly enforced for a long time, and the New England 
colonists generally treated it as a dead letter. 

When George III came to the throne he resolved to revive the 
enforcement of the Navigation Laws, and to restrict the colonial 
trade with the Spanish and French West Indies. This was done, 

1 See Story's Constitution of the United States. 



332 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

not with the view of crippling American commerce, but either to 
increase English revenue or to inflict injury on foreign rivals or 
enemies. 

Furthermore, British manufacturers had at an earlier period 
induced the EngHsh Government to restrict American home prod- 
ucts. In accordance with that poHcy, Parliament had enacted 
statutes which virtually forbade the colonists making their own 
woollen cloth, or their own beaver hats, except on a very lim- 
ited scale. They had a few iron works, but they were for- 
bidden to erect another furnace, or a mill for manufacturing 
iron rods or plates, and such industries were declared to be a 
nuisance. Pitt, who was one of the warmest friends that America 
had, openly advocated this narrow pohcy, saying that if British 
interests demanded it he would not permit the colonists to make 
so much as a " horseshoe nail." He did not need to add, " or let 
them print a copy of the English Bible," since they were already 
prohibited from doing that. Adam Smith, the eminent political 
economist (§ 612), vehemently condemned the English colonial 
mercantile system as suicidal ; but unfortunately his condemnation 
came too late to have any effect. The truth -sVas that the world 
was not ready then to receive the gospel of " Live and let live." 

599. The Stamp Act, 1765. — In accordance with these theo- 
ries about the colonies, and to meet the pressing needs of the 
Home Government, the Enghsh ministry proceeded to levy a tax 
on the colonies (1764), in return for the protection they granted 
them against the French and the Indians. The colonists had paid, 
however, as they beheved, their full proportion of the expense of 
the French and Indian wars out of their own pockets, and they 
now felt abundantly able to protect themselves. 

But notwithstanding this plea, a specially obnoxious form of 
direct tax, called the "Stamp Act," was brought forward in 1765. 
It required that all legal documents, such as deeds, wills, notes, 
receipts, and the like, should be written upon paper bearing stamps, 
purchased from the agents of the Home Government. Not only 
the leading men among the colonists, but the colonists generally, 
protested against the act, and Benjamin Franklin, with other 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 333 

agents, was sent to England to sustain their protests by argument 
and remonstrance. But in spite of their efforts the law was 
passed, and the stamps were duly sent over to America. The 
people, however, were determined not to use them, and serious 
riots ensued. 

In England strong sympathy with the colonists was expressed 
by William Pitt (who was shortly after created Earl of Chatham), 
Burke, Fox, and generally by what was well called " the brains of 
Parliament." Pitt in particular was extremely indignant. He 
urged the immediate repeal of the act, saying, " I rejoice that 
America has resisted." 

Pitt further declared that any taxation of the colonies without 
their representation in Parliament was tyranny, and that oppo- 
sition to such taxation was a duty. He vehemently insisted 
that the spirit shown by the Americans was the same which had 
withstood the despotism of the Stuarts in England, and estab- 
lished the principle once for all that the king cannot take his 
subject's money without that subject's consent (§ 484). So, too. 
Fox ardently defended the American colonists, and boldly main- 
tained that the stand they had taken helped " to preserve the 
liberties of mankind." ^ 

Against such opposition the law could not stand. The act 
was accordingly repealed (1766), amid great rejoicing in London ; 
the church bells rang a peal of triumph, and the shipping in the 
Thames was illuminated. But the good effect on America was 
lost by the passage of another act which maintained the uncondi- 
tional right of Parliament to legislate for the colonies, or, in other 
words, to tax them, if it saw fit, without their consent. 

600. The Tea Tax and the " Boston Tea Party," 1773, 
with its Results. — Another plan was now devised for getting 
money from the colonies. Parliament enacted a law (1767) 
compelling the Americans to pay taxes on a number of imports, 
such as glass, paper, and tea. In opposition to this law, the 

1 See Bancroft's United States, III, 107-108 ; Columbia University Studies, III, 
No. 2, " The Commercial Policy of England toward the American Colonies " : and 
Lecky's American Revolution, edited by Prof, J. A. Woodburn. 



334 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

colonists formed leagues refusing to use these taxed articles, 
while at the same time they encouraged smugglers to secretly 
land them, and the regular trade suffered accordingly. 

Parliament, finding that this was bad both for the government 
and for commerce, now abolished all of these duties except that 
on tea (1770). That duty was retained for a double purpose: 
first, and chiefly,.to maintain the principle of the right of Great 
Britain to tax the colonies,^ and, next, to aid the East India 
Company, which was pleading piteously for help. 

In consequence mainly of the refusal of the American col- 
onists to buy tea, the London warehouses of the East India 
Company were full to overflowing with surplus stock, and the 
company itself was in a half-bankrupt condition. The custom 
had been for the company to bring the tea to England, pay a 
tax on it, and then sell it to be reshipped to America. To 
aid the company in its embarrassment, the Government now 
agreed to remit this first duty altogether, and to impose a tax 
of only threepence (six cents) a pound on the consumers in 
America. 

Such an arrangement would, they argued, be an advantage all 
around, for, first, it would aid the company to dispose of its stock ; 
next, it would enable the colonists to get tea at a far cheaper 
rate than before ; and, lastly, and most important of all, it would 
keep the principle of colonial taxation in force. But the colo- 
nists did not accept this reasoning. In itself the threepenny 
tax was a trifle, as the ship-money tax of twenty shillings was to 
John Hampden (§ 488) ; but underlying it was a principle which 
seemed to the Americans, as it had seemed to Hampden, no 
trifle ; for such principles revolutions had been fought in the 
past; for such they would be fought in the future. 

The colonists resolved not to have the tea at any price. A 
number of ships laden with the hated taxed herb arrived at the 
port of Boston. The tea was seized by a band of men dis- 
guised as Indians, and thrown into the harbor, 1773. The 
news of that action made the King and his ministry furious. 

1 " There must be one tax," said the King, " to keep up the right." 







THE NELSON MONUMENT, TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON 



I 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 335 

Parliament sympathized with the Government, and in retaliation 
passed four acts unparalleled for their severity. 

The first was the " Boston Port Act," which closed the harbor 
to all trade ; the second was the " Regulating Act," which 
virtually annulled the charter of Massachusetts, took the govern- 
ment away from the people and gave it to the King; the third 
measure was the "Administration of Justice Act," which ordered 
that Americans who committed murder in resistance to oppres- 
sion should be sent to England for trial ; the fourth, the " Quebec 
Act," declared the country north of the Ohio and east of the 
Mississippi a part of Canada.^ The object of this last act was 
to conciliate the French Canadians, and secure their help against 
the colonists in case of rebellion. 

EveiT after this unjust action on the part of the Home Govern- 
ment a compromise might have been effected, and peace main- 
tained, if the counsels of the best men had been followed ; but 
George III would listen to no policy short of coercion. His brain 
was not well balanced, he was subject to attacks of mental 
derangement, and his one idea of being King at all hazards had 
become a kind of monomania (§597). Burke denounced the inex- 
pediency of such oppression, and Fox, another prominent member 
of Parliament, wrote, " It is intolerable to think that it should be 
in the power of one blockhead to do so much mischief." 

For the time, at least, the King was as unreasonable as any of 
the Stuarts. The obstinacy of Charles I cost him his head, that 
of James II his kingdom, that of George III resulted in a war 
which saddled the English tax-payer with an additional debt 
of ;^ 1 20,000,000, and forever detached from Great Britain the 
fairest and richest dominions that she ever possessed. 

601. The American Revolution, 1775 ; Recognition of the 
Independence of the United States, 1782. — In 1775 war began, 
and the stand made by the patriots at Lexington and the fighting 
which followed at Concord and Bunker Hill showed that the 
Americans were in earnest. The cry of the colonists had been, 

1 Embracing territory now divided into the five states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, and Wisconsin, with Eastern Minnesota. 



336 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

" No taxation without representation " ; now they had got beyond 
that, and demanded, " No legislation without representation." 
But events moved so fast that even this did not long suffice, and 
on July 4, 1776, the colonies, in Congress assembled, solemnly 
declared themselves free and independent.-^ 

As far back as the French war there was at least one man who 
foresaw this declaration. After the English had taken Quebec 
(§ 594), Vergennes,^ an eminent French statesman, said of the 
American colonies with respect to Great Britain, " They stand no 
longer in need of her protection ; she will call on them to con- 
tribute toward supporting the burdens they have helped to bring 
on her ; and they will answer by striking off all dependence." ^ 
' This prophecy was now fulfilled. After the Americans had 
defeated Burgoyne (1777) the English ministry became alarmed; 
they declared themselves ready to make terms ; they offered to 
grant anything but independence ; ^ but they had opened their 
eyes to the facts too late, and nothing short of independence 
would now satisfy the colonists. It is said that attempts were 
made to open negotiations with General Washington, but the 
commander-in-chief decKned to receive a letter from the English 
Government addressed to him, not in his official capacity, but as 
" George Washington, Esq.," and so the matter came to nothing. 

The war was never really popular in England. From the out- 
set great numbers refused to enhst to fight the Americans, and 
spoke of the contest as the " King's War " to show that the bulk 
of the English people did not encourage it. The struggle went 
on with varying success through seven heavy years, until, with 
the aid of the French, the Americans defeated Lord Cornwallis 
at Yorktown in 1781.^ By that battle France got her revenge 

1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxv, § 29. 

2 Vergennes (Ver'zhen'). 3 Bancroft's History of the United States. 

4 This was after France had recognized the independence of the United States, 
1778. 

5 It is pleasant to know that a hundred years later, in the autumn of 1881, a 
number of English gentlemen were present at the centennial celebration of the 
taking of Yorktown to express their hearty good will toward the nation which their 
ancestors had tried in vain to keep a part of Great Britain. 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 337 

for the loss of Quebec in 1759 (§ 594), and America finally won 
the cause for which she had spent so much life and treasure. 

On a foggy December morning in 1782, George III entered 
the House of Lords, and with a faltering voice read a paper in 
which he acknowledged the independence of the United States 
of America. He closed his reading with the prayer that neither 
Great Britain nor America might suffer from the separation ; and 
he expressed the hope that religion, language, interest, and affec- 
tion might prove an effectual bond of union between the two 
countries. 

Eventually the separation proved, as Goldwin Smith says,^ " a 
mutual advantage, since it removed to a great extent the arbitrary 
restrictions on trade, gave a new impetus to commerce, and 
immensely increased the wealth of both nations." 

602. The Lord George Gordon Riots (1780). — While the 
American war was in progress, England had not been entirely 
quiet at home. In consequence of the repeal of the most 
stringent of the unwise and unjust laws against the Roman 
Catholics (§ 548), Lord George Gordon, a half-crazed Scotch 
fanatic, now led an attack upon the Government (1780). 

For six days London was at the mercy of a furious mob, 
which set fire to Catholic chapels, pillaged many dwellings, and 
committed every species of outrage. Newgate prison was broken 
into, the prisoners released, and the prison burned. No one was 
safe from attack who did not wear a blue cockade to show that 
he was a Protestant, and no man's house was secure unless he 
chalked " No Popery " on the door in conspicuous letters ; or, 
as one individual did in order to make doubly sure, " No Reli- 
gion whatever." Before the riot was subdued a large amount of 
property had been destroyed and many lives sacrificed. 

603. Impeachment of Warren Hastings (1788). — Six years 
after the American Revolution came to an end Warren Hastings, 

1 Goldwin Smith's Lectures on Modern History, " The Foundation of the Ameri- 
can Colonies." On the colonial and revolutionary period in general see Lecky's 
American Revolution, edited by Prof. J. A. Woodburn, and Montgomery's Leading 
Facts of American History or his Student's American History. 



338 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

Governor-General of India, was impeached for corrupt and cruel 
government, and was tried before the House of Lords, gathered 
in Westminster Hall. On the side of Hastings was the powerful 
East India Company, ruling over a territory many times larger 
than the whole of Great Britain. Against him were arrayed the 
three ablest and most eloquent men in England, — Burke, Fox, 
and Sheridan. 

The trial was continued at intervals for over seven years. It 
resulted in the acquittal of the accused (1795); but it was proved 
that the chief business of those who went out to India was to 
wring fortunes from the natives, and then go back to England to 
live like "nabobs," and spend their ill-gotten money in a Hfe of 
luxury. This fact, and the stupendous corruption that was shown 
to exist, eventually broke down the gigantic monopoly, and 
British India was thrown open to the trade of all nations.^ 

604. Liberty of the Press ; Law and Prison Reforms ; Abo- 
lition of the Slave Trade. — Since the discontinuance of the 
censorship of the press (§ 550), though newspapers were nomi- 
nally free to discuss public affairs, yet the Government had no 
intention of permitting any severe criticism (§ 563). On the other 
hand, there were men who were determined to speak their minds 
through the press on political as on all other matters. In the 
early part of the reign, John Wilkes, an able but scurrilous writer, 
attacked the policy of the Crown in violent terms (1763). 

Some years later (1769), a writer,-who signed himself "Junius," 
began a series of letters in a daily paper, in which he handled 
the King and the " King's friends " still more roughly. An 
attempt was made by the Government to punish Wilkes and the 
pubhsher of the " Junius " letters, but it signally failed in both 
cases. Public feehng was plainly in favor of the right of the 
freest political expression,^ which was eventually conceded. 

Up to this time parliamentary debates had rarely been reported. 
In fact, under the Stuarts and the Tudors, members of Parliament 

1 See Burke's Speeches, also Macaulay's Essay on Warren Hastings. 

2 Later, during tlie excitement caused by the French Revolution, there was a 
reaction from this feeling, but it was Qnly temporary, 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 339 

would have run the risk of imprisonment if their criticisms of 
royalty had been made public ; but now ( 1 7 7 1 ) the papers 
began to contain the speeches and votes of both Houses on 
important questions. Every effort was made to suppress these 
reports, but again the press gained the day. Henceforth the 
nation could learn how far its representatives really represented the 
will of the people, and so could hold them strictly accountable, 
— a matter of vital importance in every free government.^ 

Another field of reform was also found. The times were brutal. 
The pillory still stood in the centre of London ; ^ and if the un- 
fortunate offender who was put in it escaped with a shower of 
mud and other unsavory missiles, instead of clubs and brickbats, 
he was lucky indeed. Gentlemen of fashion arranged pleasure 
parties" to visit the penitentiaries to see the wretched women 
whipped. The whole code of criminal law was savagely vin- 
dictive. Capital punishment was inflicted for upwards of two 
hundred offences, many of which would now be thought to be 
sufficiently punished by one or two months' imprisonment in the 
house of correction. 

Not only men, but women and children even, were hanged for 
pilfering goods or food worth a few shillings.^ The jails were 
crowded with poor wretches whom want had driven to theft, and 
who were " worked off " on the gallows every Monday morning 
in batches of a dozen or twenty, in sight of the jeering, drunken 
crowds who gathered to witness their death agonies. 

Through the efforts of Sir Samuel Romilly, Jeremy Bentham, 
and others, a reform was effected in this bloody code. Next, the 
labors of the philanthropic John Howard, and later of EHzabeth 
Fry, purified the jails of abuses which, had made them not only 
dens of suffering and disease, but schools of crime as well. 

The laws respecting punishment for debt wes-e also changed for 
the better, and thousands of miserable beings who were without 

1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxvi, § 30, 

2 The pillory (see § 580) was not abolished until the accession of Queen Victoria. 

3 Five shillings, or ^1.25, was the hanging limit; anjrthing stolen above that sum 
in money or goods might send the thief to the gallows. 



340 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

means to satisfy their creditors were set free, instead of being kept 
in useless life-long imprisonment. At the same time Clarkson, 
Wilberforce, Fox, and Pitt were endeavoring to abolish that relic 
of barbarism, the African slave trade. After twenty years of per- 
sistent effort both in Parliament and out, they at last accomplished 
that great and beneficent work (1807). 

605. War with France (1793- 1805); Battle of the Nile ; Tra- 
falgar ; Spain. — Near the close of the century (1789) the French 
Revolution broke out. It was a violent and successful attempt to 
destroy those feudal institutions which France had outgrown, and 
which had, as we have seen, disappeared gradually in England 
after the rebellion of Wat Tyler (§§ 304, 368, 534). At first the 
revolutionists received the hearty sympathy of many of the Whig 
party, but after the execution of Louis XVI and Queen Marie 
Antoinette,^ England became alarmed not only at the horrible 
scenes of the Reign of Terror but at the establishment of that 
democratic republic which seemed to justify them, and joined 
an alliance of the principal European powers for the purpose of 
restoring the French monarchy. 

Napoleon had now become the real head of the French nation, 
and seemed bent on making himself master of all Europe. He 
undertook an expedition against Egypt and the East which was 
intended as a stepping-stone toward the ultimate conquest of the 
English empire in India, but his plans were frustrated by Nelson's 
victory over the French fleet at the battle of the Nile. 

With the assistance of Spain, Napoleon next prepared to invade 
England, and was so confident of success that he caused a gold 
medal to be struck, bearing the inscription, "Descent upon 
England." "Struck at London, 1804." But the combined 
French and Spanish fleets on whose cooperation Napoleon was 
depending were driven by the English into the harbor of Cadiz, 
and the great expedition was postponed for another year.^ When, 

1 See Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution, " Death of Marie Antoinette." 

2 In 1 801 Robert Fulton proposed to Napoleon that he should build war-ships to 
be propelled by steam. The proposal was submitted to a committee of French scien- 
tists, who reported that it was absurd. Had Napoleon acted on Fulton's suggestion, 
his descent on England might have been successful. 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 34 1 

in the autumn of 1805, they left Cadiz harbor, Lord Nelson lay 
waiting for them off Cape Trafalgar/ near by. 

Two days later he descried the enemy at daybreak. The men 
on both sides felt that the decisive struggle was at hand. With 
the exception of a long, heavy swell the sea was calm, with a light 
breeze, but sufficient to bring the two fleets gradually within 
range. 

"As they drifted on their path 

There was silence deep as death ; 
• And the boldest held his breath 
For a time." ^ 

Just before the action Nelson ran up this signal to the mast- 
head of his ship, where all might see it : " England expects 
EVERY -^viAN TO DO HIS DUTY." The answcr to it was three ring- 
ing cheers from the entire fleet, and the fight began. When it 
ended, Napoleon's boasted navy was no more. Trafalgar Square, 
in the heart of London, with its tall column bearing aloft a statue 
of Nelson, commemorates the decisive victory, which was dearly 
bought with the life of the great admiral. 

The battle of Trafalgar snuffed out Napoleon's projected inva- 
sion of England. He had lost his ships, and their commander 
in his despair committed suicide. The French emperor could 
no longer hope to bridge "the ditch," as he derisively called 
the boisterous Channel, whose waves rose hke a wall between 
him and the island which he hated (§35). A few years later. 
Napoleon, who had taken possession of Spain, and placed his 
brother on the throne, was driven from that country by Sir 
Arthur Wellesley, destined to be better known as the Duke of 
Wellington, and the crown was restored to the Spanish nation. 

606. Second War with the United States, 1812-1815. — The 
United States waged its first war with Great Britain to gain an 
independent national existence ; in 1 8 1 2 it declared a second 
war to secure its personal and maritime rights. During the long 
and desperate struggle between England and France, each nation 

1 Cape Trafalgar (Traf-al'gar), on the southern coast of Spain. 

2 Campbell's Battle of the Baltic, but applicable as well to Trafalgar. 



342 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

had prohibited neutral powers from commercial intercourse with 
the other, or with any country friendly to the other. 

Furthermore, the English Government had laid down the 
principle that a person born on British soil could not become a 
citizen of another nation, but that " once an Englishman always 
an Englishman " was the only true doctrine. In accordance with 
that theory, it claimed the right to search American ships and 
take from them and force into their own service any seaman sup- 
posed to be of British birth. In this way Great Britain had seized 
more than six thousand men, 3,nd notwithstanding their protest 
that they were American citizens, either by birth or by natural- 
ization, had compelled them to enter the English navy. 

Other points in dispute between the two countries were in a 
fair way of being settled amicably, but there appeared to be no 
method of coming to terms in regard to the question of search 
and impressment, which was the most important of all, since, 
though the demand of the United States was, in the popular 
phrase of the day, for " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," it was 
the last which was especially emphasized. 

In 1 81 2 war against Great Britain was declared, and an attack 
made on Canada which resulted in the American forces being 
driven back. During the war British troops landed in Maryland, 
burned the Capitol and other public buildings in Washington, and 
destroyed the Congressional Library. 

On the other hand, the American navy had unexpected and 
extraordinary successes on the ocean and the lakes. Out of fifteen 
sea combats with approximately equal forces, the Americans gained 
twelve.^ The contest closed with the signal defeat of the English 
at New Orleans, when General Andrew Jackson (181 5) completely 
routed the forces led by Sir Edward Pakenham, brother-in-law of 
the Duke of Wellington. The right of search was thenceforth 
dropped, although it was not formally abandoned by Great Britain 
until more than forty years later (1856). 

607. Battle of Waterloo, 1815. — On Sunday, June 18, 1815, 
the English war against Napoleon, which had been carried on 

1 Montgomery's Leading Facts of American History, § 228. 



I 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 343 

almost constantly since his accession to power, culminated in the 
decisive battle of Waterloo.^ Napoleon had crossed the Belgian 
frontier, in order that he might come up with the British before 
they could form a junction with their Prussian allies. All the pre- 
vious night the rain had fallen in torrents, and when the soldiers 
rose from their cheerless bivouac in the trampled and muddy 
fields of rye, a drizzling rain was still falling. 

Napoleon planned the battle with the purpose of destroying 
first the English and then the Prussian forces, but Wellington 
held his own against the furious attacks of the French. It 
was evident, however, that even the " Iron Duke," as he was 
called, could not continue to withstand the terrible assaults many 
hours longer. 

As -time passed on, and he saw his solid squares melting away 
under the murderous French fire, as line after line of his soldiers 
coming forward silently stepped into the places of their fallen 
comrades, while the expected Prussian reinforcements still delayed 
their appearance, the English commander exclaimed, " O that 
night or Bliicher^ would come ! " At last Bliicher with his Prus- 
sians did come, and as Grouchy,^ the leader of a division on 
which Napoleon was counting, did not, Waterloo was finally won 
by the combined strength of the allies. Not long afterward 
Napoleon was sent to die a prisoner on the desolate rock of 
St. Helena. 

When all was over, Wellington said to Bliicher, as he stood by 
him on a little eminence looking down upon the field covered 
with the dead and dying, " A great victory is the saddest thing 
on earth, except a great defeat." 

With that victory ended the second Hundred Years' War of 
England with France, which began with the War of the Spanish 
Succession (1704) (§ 557) under Marlborough. The original 
object of the war was, first, to humble the power that threatened 
the independence of England, and, secondly, to protect those 
colonies which had now separated from the mother-country 

1 Waterloo : near Brussels, Belgium. 2 Bliicher (Bloo'ker). 

3 Grouchy (Grou'she'). 



344 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

and had become, partly through French help, the republic of the 
United States of America. 

608. Increase of the National Debt ; Taxation. — Owing to 
these hundred years and more of war, the National Debt of Great 
Britain and Ireland (§ 552), which in 1688 was much less than a 
million of pounds, had now reached the enormous amount of over 
nine hundred millions (or ^4,500,000,000), bearing yearly interest 
at the rate of more than ^160,000,000.^ So great had been the 
strain on the finances of the country, that the Bank of England 
suspended payment, and many heavy failures occurred. In addi- 
tion to this, a succession of bad harvests sent up the price of 
wheat to such a point that at one time an ordinary sized loaf of 
bread cost the farm laborer more than half a day's wages. 

Taxes had gone on increasing until it seemed as though the 
people could not endure the burden. As Sydney Smith declared, 
with entire truth, there were duties on everything. They began, 
he said, in childhood with " the boy's taxed top " ; they followed 
to old age, until at last " the dying Englishman, pouring his taxed 
medicine into a taxed spoon, flung himself back on a taxed bed, 
and died in the arms of an apothecary who had paid a tax of a 
hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death." ^ 

609. The Irish Parliament ; the Irish Rebellion (1798) ; Union 
of Great Britain and Ireland (1800). — For a century after the 
battle of the Boyne (§ 551) Ireland can hardly be said to have 
had a history. The iron hand of Enghsh despotism had crushed 
the spirit out of the inhabitants, and they suffered in silence. Dur- 
ing the first part of the eighteenth century the destitution of the 
people was so great that Dean Swift, in bitter mockery of the 
Government's neglect, pubHshed what he called his " Modest 
Proposal." He suggested that the misery of the half-starved 
peasants might be reheved by allowing them to eat their own 
children or else sell them to the butchers. 

But a new attempt was now made to improve the political con- 
dition of the wretched country. Burke (§ 599) had already tried 

1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, " National Debt." 

2 Sydney Smith's Essays, " Review of Seybert's Annals of the United States." 



1760- 1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 345 

to secure a fair measure of commercial liberty for the island, but 
without success. Since the reign of Henry VII the so-called 
" free Parliament " of Ireland had been bound hand and foot by 
Poynings' Act (§ 381, note). The eminent Irish orator, Henry 
Grattan, now urged the repeal of that law with all his impassioned 
eloquence. He was seconded in his efforts by the powerful 
influence of Fox, in the EngHsh House of Commons. Finally, 
the obnoxious act was repealed (1782), and an independent Irish 
Parliament, to which Grattan was elected, met in Dublin. 

But although more than three-quarters of the Irish people were 
Catholics, no person of that faith was permitted to sit in the new 
Parliament, or to vote for the election of a member. This was 
not the only injustice, for many Protestants in Belfast and the 
north^bf Ireland had no right to be represented in it. Such a state 
of things could not fail to excite angry protest, and Grattan, with 
other Protestants in Parliament, labored for reform. The discon- 
tent finally led to the organization of an association called the 
" Society of United Irishmen." The leaders of that movement 
hoped to secure the cooperation of Catholics and Protestants, 
and to obtain fair and full representation for both in the Irish 
Parliament. A measure of political reform was secured (1793), 
but it did not go far enough to give the rehef desired. 

Eventually the Society of United Irishmen became a revolu- 
tionary organization which sought, by the help of the French, to 
make Ireland an independent republic. The sprigs of shamrock 
or the shamrock-colored badges displayed by these men gave a 
new significance to " the wearing of the green." ^ By this time 
many Protestants had withdrawn from the organization, and many 
Catholics refused to ask help from the French revolutionary party, 
who were hostile to all churches and to all rehgion. 

Then a devoted band of Catholics in the south of Ireland 
resolved to rise and, trusting to their own right arms, to strike 
for independence. A frightful rebellion broke out (1798), marked 
by all the intense hatred springing from rival races and rival creeds, 

1 See the famous Irish song of the " Wearin' o' the Green " ; see, too, in 
Montgomery's Heroic Ballads, the " Shan Van Vochtj" Ginn & Company. 



346 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

and aggravated by the peasants' hatred of oppressive landlords. 
Both sides perpetrated horrible atrocities. The Government 
employed a large force of Orangemen/ or extreme Protestants, 
to help suppress the insurrection. They did it with such remorse- 
less cruelty that History shrinks from staining her pages with the 
story of its horrors. 

Matters now came to a crisis. Wilham Pitt, son of the late 
Earl of Chatham (§ 599), was Prime Minister. He believed that 
the best interests of both Ireland and England demanded their 
poHtical union. He devoted all his energies to accompHshing 
the work. The result was that in the last year of the eighteenth 
century the English Government succeeded, by the most unscru- 
pulous use of money, in gaining the desired end. Lord Cornwallis, 
acting as Pitt's agent, confessed with shame that he bought up a 
sufficient number of members of the Irish Parliament to secure a 
vote in favor of union with Great Britain. In 1800 the two 
countries were joined — in name at least — under the title of 
the " United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." ^ 

Pitt used all his powerful influence to obtain for Ireland a full 
and fair representation in the united Parliament (i 801). He urged 
that Catholics as well as Protestants should be eligible for election 
to that body. But the King positively refused to listen to his 
Prime Minister. He even declared that it would be a violation of 
his coronation oath for him to grant such a request. The conse- 
quence was that not a single Catholic was admitted to the 
Imperial Parliament until thirty years later (§ 618). 

Two years after the first Imperial Parhament met in London 
the Irish patriot Robert Emmet made a desperate effort to free 
his country (1803). To his mind the union of England with 
Ireland was simply " the union of the shark with its prey." He 
staked his life on the cause of independence ; he lost, and paid 
the forfeit on the scaffold. 

1 Orangemen : the Protestants of the north of Ireland, who had taken the side of 
William of Orange in the Revolution of 1688-1689. See § 551. They wore an " orange 
ribbon " as their badge, to distinguish them from the Catholic party, who wore green 
badges. 2 xhe first Parliament of the United Kingdom met in 1801. 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 34/ 

But notwithstanding Emmet's hatred of the union, it resulted 
advantageously to Ireland in at least two respects. First, more 
permanent peace was secured to that distracted and long-suffer- 
ing country. Secondly, the Irish people made decided gains 
commercially. The duties on their farm products were removed, 
at least in large degree, and the EngHsh ports hitherto closed 
against them were thrown open. The duties on their manu- 
factured goods seem to have been taken off at that time only 
in part.^ Later, absolute freedom of trade was secured. 

610. Material Progress ; Canals ; the Steam Engine, 1785 ; 
Distress of the Working Class ; the North of England. — The 
reign of George III was in several directions one of marked 
progress, especially in England. Just after the King's acces- 
sion the Duke of Bridgewater constructed a canal from his 
coal mine in Worsley to Manchester, a distance of seven miles. 
Later, he extended it to Liverpool, and it has recently become 
the " Manchester Ship Canal." The Duke of Bridgewater's work 
was practically the commencement of a system which has since 
developed so widely that the canals of England now exceed in 
length its navigable rivers. The two form such a complete net- 
work of water communication that it is said that no place in 
the realm is more than fifteen miles distant from this means of 
transportation, which connects all the large towns with each other 
and with the chief ports. 

In the last half of the eighteenth century James Watt obtained 
the first patent (1769) for his improved steam engine (§ 570), 
but did not succeed in making it a business success until 1785. 
The story is told "^ that he took a working model of it to show to 

iSee May's Constitutional History of England, Lecky's England in the 
Eighteenth Century; but compare O'Connor Morris' recent work on "Ireland, 
from 1 798-1 898," page 58. 

2 This story is told also of Boulton, Watt's partner. See Smiles' Lives of 
Boulton and Watt, page i. Newcomen had invented a rude steam engine in 1705, 
which in 1712 came into use to some extent for pumping water out of coal mines. 
But his engine was too clumsy and too wasteful of fuel to be used by manufacturers. 
Boulton and Watt built the first steam-engine works in England at Soho, a suburb 
of Birmingham, in 1775 ; but it was not until 1785 that they began to do sufficient 
business to make it evident that they were on th^ir way to success, 



348 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

the King. His majesty patronizingly asked him, "Well, my 
man, what have you to sell ? " The inventor promptly answered, 
"What kings covet, may it please your Majesty, — power P^ 
The story is perhaps too good to be true, but the fact of the 
"power" could not be denied, — power, too, not simply mechan- 
ical, but, in its results, moral and political as well. 

Such was the increase of machinery driven by steam, and such 
the improvements made by Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Cromp- 
ton in machinery for spinning and weaving cotton, that much 
distress arose among the working classes. The price of bread 
was growing higher and higher, while in many districts skilled 
operatives could not earn by their utmost efforts eight shilHngs a 
week. They saw their hand-labor supplanted by patent " mon- 
sters of iron and fire," which never grew weary, which subsisted 
on water and coal, and never asked for wages. Led by a man 
named Ludd (181 1), the starving workmen attacked the mills, 
broke the machinery in pieces, and sometimes burnt the build- 
ings. The riots were at length suppressed, and a number of the 
leaders executed ; but a great change for the better was at hand, 
and improved machinery driven by steam was soon to remedy 
the evils it had seemingly created. It led to an enormous 
demand for cotton. This helped to stimulate cotton-growing in 
th.e United States of America as well as to encourage industry 
in Great Britain. 

Up to this period the north of England remained the poorest 
part of the country. The population was sparse, ignorant, and 
unprosperous. It was in the south that improvements originated. 
In the reign of Henry VIII, the North fought against the 
dissolution of the monasteries (§§ 404, 409) ; in Elizabeth's reign 
it resisted Protestantism ; in that of George I it sided with the 
so-called " Pretender " (§ 584). 

But steam wrought a great change. Factories were built, 
population increased, cities sprang up, and wealth grew apace. 
Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield, 
and Liverpool made the north a new country. The saying is 
now current that " what Lancashire thinks to-day, England will 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 349 

think to-morrow." So much for James Watt's "power" and its 
results. 

611. Discovery of Oxygen (1774); Introduction of Gas; the 
Safety Lamp; Steam Navigation, 1807. — Notwithstanding the 
progress that had been made in many departments of knowledge, 
the science of chemistry remained almost stationary until (1774) 
Dr. Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen, the most abundant, as 
well as the most important, element in nature. 

That discovery not only "laid the foundation of modern 
chemical science," ^ but, as Professor Liebig remarks, " the 
knowledge of the composition of the atmosphere, of the soHd 
crust of the earth, of water, and of their influence upon the life 
of plants and animals was linked with it." It proved, also, of 
direct practical utility, since the successful pursuit of innumerable 
trades and manufactures, with the profitable separation of metals 
from their ores, stands in close connection with the facts which 
Priestley's experiments made known. 

As intellectual light spread, so also did material light. It was 
not until near the close of the reign of George III that London 
could be said to be lighted at night. A few feeble oil lamps 
were in use, but the streets were dark and dangerous, and high- 
way robberies were frequent. At length (1815) a company was 
formed to light the city with gas. After much opposition from 
those who were in the whale-oil interest the enterprise succeeded. 
The new light, as Miss Martineau said, did more to prevent crime 
than all that the Government had accomplished since the days of 
Alfred. It changed, too, the whole aspect of the English capital, 
though it was only the forerunner of the electric light, which has 
since changed it even more. 

The sight of the great city now, when viewed at night from 
Highgate archway on the north, or looking down the Thames 
from Westminster Bridge, is something never to be forgotten. It 
gives one a realizing sense of the immensity of " this province 
covered with houses," which cannot be got so well in any other 
way. It brings to mind, too, those lines expressive of the 

i See Professor Youmans' New Chemistry. 



3^0 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

contrasts of wealth and poverty, success and failure, inevitable in 
such a place : — 

" O gleaming lamps of London, that gem the city's crown, 
What fortunes lie within you, O lights of London town ! 

O cruel lamps of London, if tears your light could drown, 

Your victims' eyes would weep them, O lights of London town." 1 

The same year in which gas was introduced. Sir Humphry 
Davy invented the miner's safety lamp. Without seeking a 
patent, he generously gave his invention to the world, finding 
his reward in the knowledge that it would be the means of 
saving thousands of lives wherever men are called to work 
underground. 

Since Watt had demonstrated the value of steam for driving 
machinery (§ 610), a number of inventors had been experiment- 
ing with the new power, in the hope that they might apply it to 
propelling vessels. In 1807 Robert Fulton, an American, built 
the first steamboat, and made the voyage from New York to 
Albany in it. Shortly afterward his vessel began to make regular 
trips on the Hudson. A number of years later a similar boat 
began to carry passengers on the Clyde, in Scotland. Finally, in 
1 81 9, the bold undertaking was made of crossing the Atlantic 
by steam. An American steamship, the Savannah, of about 
three hundred tons, set the example by a voyage from the 
United States to Liverpool. Dr. Lardner, an EngHsh scientist, 
had proved to his own satisfaction that ocean steam navigation 
was impracticable. The book containing the doctor's demonstra- 
tion was brought to America by the Savannah on her return. 

Twenty-one years afterward the Cunard line was established. 
Since then fleets of steamers ranging from five thousand to 
more than twenty thousand tons have been built. They now 
make passages from continent to continent in a less number of 
days than the ordinary sailing-vessels formerly required weeks. 
The fact that during a period of more than sixty years one of 
these lines has never lost a passenger is conclusive proof that 

1 From the play The Lights of London. 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 35 1 

Providence is on the side of steam, when steam has men that 
know how to handle it. 

612. Literature; Art; Education; Dress. — The reign of 
George III is marked by a long Hst of names eminent in 
letters and art. First in point of time among these stands 
Dr. Samuel Johnson, the compiler of the first English diction- 
ary worthy of the name, and that on which those of our own 
day are based to a considerable extent. He was also the 
author of the story of " Rasselas," — that notable satire on dis- 
content and the search after happiness. Next stands Johnson's 
friend, Oliver Goldsmith, famous for his genius, his wit, and his 
improvidence, which was always getting him into trouble, but 
still more famous for his poems, and his novel, "The Vicar of 
Wakefield.^' 

Edward Gibbon, David Hume, author of the well-known 
" History of England," and Adam Smith come next in time. In 
1776 Gibbon published his " Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- 
pire," which after more than a hundred years still stands the ablest 
history of the subject in any language. In the same year Adam 
Smith issued "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the 
Wealth of Nations," which had an immediate and permanent effect 
on legislation respecting commerce, trade, and finance. During 
this period, also. Sir William Blackstone became prominent as a 
writer on law, and Edmund Burke, the distinguished orator and 
statesman, wrote his "Reflections on the French Revolution." 

The poets. Burns, Byron, Shelley, and Keats, with Sheridan, the 
orator and dramatist, and Sterne, the humorist, belong to this 
reign; so, too, does the witty satirist, Sydney Smith, and Sir 
Walter Scott, whose works, like those of Shakespeare, have " made 
the dead past live again." Then again, Maria Edgeworth and 
Jane Austen have left admirable pictures of the age in their stories 
of Irish and English life. Coleridge and Wordsworth began to 
attract attention toward the last of this period, and to be much 
read by those who loved the poetry of thought and the poetry of 
nature ; while, early in the next reign, Charles Lamb published 
his delightful " Essays of Elia." 



3^2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1760-1820 

In art we have the first EngHsh painters and engravers. 
Hogarth, who died a few years after the beginning of the reign, 
was celebrated for his coarse but perfect representations of 
low life and street scenes ; and his series of Election pictures 
with his "Beer Lane" and "Gin Alley" are valuable for the 
insight they give into the history of the times. 

The chief portrait painters were Reynolds, Lawrence, and 
Gainsborough, the last of whom afterward became noted for 
his landscapes. They were followed by Wilkie, whose pictures 
of "The Rent Day," "The Reading of the Will," and many 
others, tell a story of interest to every one who looks at them. 

Last came Turner, who in some respects surpassed all former 
artists in his power of reproducing scenes in nature. At the same 
time, Bewick, whose cuts used to be the delight of every child 
that read "^sop's Fables," gave a new impulse to wood-engraving, 
while Flaxman rose to be the leading English sculptor, and Wedge- 
wood introduced useful and beautiful articles of pottery. 

In common-school education little advance had been made for 
many generations. In the country the great mass of the people 
were nearly as ignorant as they were in the darkest part of the 
Middle Ages. Hardly a peasant over forty years of age could be 
found who could read a verse in the Bible, and not one in ten 
could write his name. 

There were no cheap books or newspapers, no railroads, no 
system of public instruction. The poor seldom left the counties 
in which they were born. They knew nothing of what was going 
on in the world. Their education was wholly of that practical 
kind which comes from work and things, not from books and 
teachers ; yet many of them with only these simple helps found 
out two secrets which the highest culture sometimes misses, — 
how to be useful and how to be happy.-^ 

The close of George Ill's reign marks the beginning of the 
present age. It was indicated in many ways, and among others 
by the change in dress. Gentlemen were leaving off the pictu- 
resque costumes of the past, — the cocked hats, elaborate wigs, silk 

1 See Wordsworth's poem Resolution and Independence. 



1760-1820] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 353 

stockings, ruffles, velvet coats, and swords, — and gradually put- 
ting on the plain democratic garb, sober in cut and color, by 
which we know them to-day. 

613. Last Days of George III. — In 1820 George III died at 
the age of seventy-eight. During ten years he had been blind, 
deaf, and insane, having lost his reason not very long after the 
jubilee", which celebrated the fiftieth year of his reign in 1809. 
Once, in a lucid interval, he was found by the Queen singing a 
hymn and playing an accompaniment on the harpsichord. 

He then knelt and prayed aloud for her, for his family, and for 
the nation ; and in closing, for himself, that it might please God 
to avert his heavy calamity; or grant him resignation to bear it. 
Then he burst into tears, and his reason again fled.^ In conse- 
quence of the incapacity of the King, his eldest son, the Prince of 
Wales, was appointed regent (181 1), and on the King's death 
came to the throne as George IV. 

614. Summary. — The long reign of George III, covering 
sixty years, was in every way eventful. During that time 
England lost her possessions in America, but gained India and 
prepared the way for getting possession of New Zealand and 
Australia. During that period, also, Ireland was united to Great 
Britain. The wars with France, which lasted more than twenty 
years, ended in the victory of Trafalgar and the still greater 
victory of Waterloo. In consequence of these wars, with that 
of the American Revolution, the National Debt of Great Britain 
rose to a height which rendered the burden of taxation well-nigh 
insupportable. 

The second war with the United States in 181 2 resulted in 
completing American independence, and England was forced to 
relinquish the right of search. The two greatest reforms of the 
period were the abolition of the slave trade and the mitigation 
of the laws against debt and crime ; the chief material improve- 
ment was the application of steam to manufacturing and to 
navigation. 

1 See Thackeray's Four Georges. 



354 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1820-1830 

GEORGE IV — 1 820-1 830 

615. Accession and Character of George IV. — George IV, 
eldest son of the late king, came to the throne in his fifty-eighth 
year; but, owing to his father's insanity, he had virtually been 
King for nearly ten years (§ 613). His habits of life had made 
him a selfish, dissolute spendthrift, who, like Charles II,* cared 
only for pleasure. Though while Prince of Wales he had received 
for many years an income of upwards of ^100,000, which was 
largely increased at a later period, yet he was always hopelessly 
in debt. 

Parliament (1795) appropriated over ^600,000 to relieve 
him from his most pressing creditors, but his wild extravagance 
soon involved him in difficulties again, so that had it not been 
for help given by the long-suffering tax-payers, his royal high- 
ness must have become as bankrupt in purse as he was in 
character. 

After his accession matters became worse rather than better. 
At his coronation, which cost the nation over ;^2 00,000, he 
appeared in hired jewels, which he forgot to return, and which 
Parliament had to pay for. Not only did he waste the nation's 
money more recklessly than ever, but he used whatever political 
influence he had to oppose such measures of reform as the times 
demanded. 

616. Discontent and Conspiracy; the "Manchester Massacre"; 
the Six Acts (1819). — When (181 1) the Prince of Wales became 
regent (§ 613), he desired to form a Whig ministry, not because 
he cared for Whig principles (§ 531), but solely for the reason 
that he should thereby be acting in opposition to his father's 
wishes. Finding his purpose impracticable, he accepted Tory rule 
(§531), and a ministry was formed with Lord Liverpool as Prime 
Minister. It had for its main object the exclusion of the Catholics 
from representation in Parliament (§ 609). 

Liverpool was a dull, well-meaning man, who utterly failed to 
comprehend the real tendency of the age. He was the son of 
a commoner who had been raised to the peerage. He had 



1820-1830] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 355 

always had a reputation for honest obstinacy, and for little 
else. After he became Premier, Madame de Stael, who was 
visiting England, asked him one day, ^' What has become of that 
very stupid man, Mr. Jenkinson?" "Madame," answered the 
unfortunate Prime Minister, "he is now Lord Liverpool."^ 

From such a Government, which continued in power for fifteen 
years, nothing but trouble could be expected. The misery- of the 
country was great. Food was selling at famine prices. Thou- 
sands were on the verge of starvation, and tens of thousands did 
not get enough to eat. Trade was seriously depressed, and multi- 
tudes were unable to obtain work. Under these circumstances, 
the suffering masses undertook to hold public meetings to discuss 
the cause and cure of these evils, but the authorities looked upon 
these "meetings with suspicion, especially as violent speeches 
against the Government were often made, and dispersed them 
as seditious and tending to riot and rebellion. 

Many large towns at this period had no voice in legislation. 
At Birmingham, which was one of this class, the citizens had met 
and chosen, though without legal authority, a representative to 
Parliament. Manchester, another important manufacturing town, 
now determined to do the same. The people were warned not 
to assemble, but they persisted in doing so, on the ground that 
peaceful discussion, with the election of a representative, was no 
violation of law. The meeting was held in St. Peter's Fields, 
and, through the blundering of a magistrate, it ended in an 
attack by a body of troops, by which many people were wounded 
and a number killed (18 19). The bitter feeling caused by the 
"Manchester Massacre," or "Peterloo," as it was called, was 
still further aggravated by the passage of the Six Acts (18 19). 
The object of these severe coercive measures was to make it 
impossible for men to take any public action demanding politi- 
cal reform. They restricted freedom of speech, freedom of 
the press, and the right of the people to assemble for the pur- 
pose of open discussion of the course taken by the Government. 

1 Earl's English Premiers, Vol. II. Madame de Stael (Stal) : a celebrated 
French writer. 



356 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1820-1830 

These harsh laws coupled with other repressive measures taken 
by the Tories (§ 531), who were then in power, led to the " Cato 
Street Conspiracy." Shortly after the accession of George IV 
a few desperate men banded together, and meeting in a stable 
in Cato Street, London, formed a plot to murder Lord Liverpool 
and the entire Cabinet at a dinner at which all the ministers were 
to be present. 

The plot was discovered, and the conspirators speedily dis- 
posed of by the gallows or transportation, but nothing was done 
to reheve the suffering which had provoked the intended crime. 
No new conspiracy was attempted, but in the course of the 
next ten years a silent revolution took place, which, as we shall 
see later, obtained for the people that representation in Parlia- 
ment which they had hitherto vainly attempted to get (§625). 

617. Queen Caroline. — While Prince of Wales, George IV 
had, contrary to law, married Mrs. Fitzherbert (1785),^ a Roman 
Catholic lady of excellent character, and possessed of great beauty. 
Ten years later, partly through royal compulsion, and partly to 
get money to pay off some of his numerous debts, the Prince 
married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. The union proved 
a source of unhappiness to both. The princess lacked both dis- 
cretion and delicacy, and her husband, who disliked her from the 
first, was reckless and brutal toward her. 

He separated from her in a year's time, and as soon as she 
could she withdrew to the continent. On his accession to the 
throne the King excluded Queen Caroline's name from the Prayer- 
Book, and next applied to Parhament for a divorce on the ground 
of the Queen's unfaithfulness to her marriage vows. 

Henry Brougham, afterwards Lord Brougham, acted as the 
Queen's counsel. No sufficient evidence was brought against 
her, and the ministry decHned to take further action. It was 
decided, however, that she could not claim the honor of coro- 
nation, to which, as Queen-Consort, she had a right sanctioned 

1 By the Royal Marriage Act of 1772, no descendant of George II could make 
a legal marriage without the consent of the reigning sovereign, unless twenty-five 
years of age, and the marriage was not objected to by Parliament. 



1820-1830] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 357 

by custom but not secured by law. When the King was crowned 
(1821), no place was provided for her. By the advice of her 
counsel, she presented herself at the entrance of Westminster 
Abbey as the coronation ceremony was about to begin ; but, by 
order of her husband, admission was refused, and she retired to 
die, heart-broken, a few days after. 

618. Three Reforms. — Seven years later (1828) the Duke of 
Wellington, a Tory (§531) in politics, became Prime Minister. 
His sympathies in all matters of legislation were with the King, 
but he made a virtue of necessity, and for the time acted with 
those who demanded reform. The Corporation Act (§ 524), 
which was originally passed in the reign of Charles II, and had 
for its object the exclusion of Dissenters from all town or corpo- 
rate offices, was now repealed ; henceforth a man might become 
a mayor, alderman, or town officer, without belonging to the 
Church of England. At the same time the Test Act (§ 529), 
which had also been passed in Charles IPs reign to keep both 
CathoHcs and Dissenters out of government offices, whether civil 
or military, was repealed. As a matter of fact " the teeth of both 
acts had long been drawn " by an annual Indemnity Act (1727). 

The next year (1829) a still greater reform was carried. For a 
long period the Roman Catholic Emancipation party (§ 609) had 
been laboring to obtain the abolition of the laws which had been 
on the statute books for over a century and a half, by which Catho- 
lics were excluded from the right to sit in ParHament. These laws, 
it will be remembered, were enacted at the time of the alleged 
Popish Plot, and in consequence of the perjured evidence 
given by Titus Gates (§ 530).^ The King, and the Tory party mar- 
shalled by the Duke of WelHngton, strenuously resisted the repeal 
of these statutes ; but finally the duke became convinced that 
further opposition was useless. He therefore suddenly changed 
about and took the lead in securing the success of a measure which 
he heartily hated, solely, as he declared, to avert civil war. 

But at the same time that Catholic emancipation was granted, 
an act was passed raising the property quaHfication of a very 

1 See Sydney Smith's Peter Plymley's Letters. 



358 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1820-1830 

large class of small Irish landholders from JQ2 to ;^io. This 
measure deprived many thousands of their right to vote. The 
law was enacted on the pretext that the small Irish landholders 
would be influenced by their landlord or their priest. 

Under the new order of things, Daniel O'Connell, an Irish 
gentleman of an old and honorable family, and a man of dis- 
tinguished abihty, came forward as leader of the Catholics. xA.fter 
much difficulty he succeeded in taking his seat in the House 
of Commons (1829). He henceforth devoted himself, though 
without avail, to the repeal of the act uniting Ireland with 
England (§ 609), and to the restoration of an independent Irish 
Parliament. 

619. The New Police (1829). — Although London had now a 
population of a milHon and a half, it still had no effective poHce. 
The guardians of the peace at that date were infirm old men, who 
spent their time dozing in sentry-boxes, and had neither the 
strength nor energy to be of service in any emergency. The 
young fellows of fashion considered these venerable constables as 
legitimate game, and often amused themselves by upsetting the 
sentry-boxes with their occupants, leaving the latter helpless in 
the street, kicking and struggHng hke turtles turned on their 
backs, and as powerless to get on their feet again. 

During the last year of the reign Sir Robert Peel got a bill 
passed (1829) which organized a new and thoroughly efficient 
police force, properly equipped and uniformed. Great was the 
outcry against this innovation, and the " men in blue " were 
hooted at, not only by London "roughs," but by respectable 
citizens, as " Bobbies " or " Peelers," in derisive allusion to their 
founder. But the "Bobbies," who carry no visible club, were 
not to be jeered out of existence. They did their duty like men, 
and have continued to do it in a way which long since gained for 
them the good will of all who care for the preservation of law 
and order. 

620. Death of the King (1830). — George IV died soon after 
the passage of the new Police Bill (1830). Of him it may well 
be said, though in a very different sense from that in which the 



1820-1830] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE ' 359 

expression was originally used, that " nothing in his life became 
him like the leaving it." During his ten years' reign he had 
squandered enormous sums of money in gambling and dissipation, 
and had done his utmost to block the wheels of poHtical progress. 

How far this son of an insane father was responsible, it may 
not be for us to judge. Walter Scott, who had a kind word for 
almost every one, and especially for any one of the Tory party 
(§ 531), did not fail to say something in praise of the generous 
good nature of his friend George IV. The sad thing is that his 
voice was the only one. In a whole nation the rest were silent ; 
or, if they spoke, it was neither to commend nor to defend, 
but to condemn. 

621. Summary. — The legislative reforms of George IV's 
reign are its chief features. The repeal of the Test and Corpo- 
ration acts and the granting of Catholic emancipation were tardy 
measures of justice. Neither the King nor his ministers deserve 
any credit for them, but, none the less, they accomplished great 
and permanent good; 

WILLIAM IV — 1 830-1 83 7 

622. Accession and Character of William IV. — As George IV 
left no heir, his brother William, a man of sixty-five, now came 
to the throne. He had passed most of his life on shipboard, 
having been placed in the navy when a mere lad. He was some- 
what rough in his manner, and cared nothing for the ceremony 
and etiquette that were so dear to both George III and George IV. 
His faults, however, were on the surface. He was frank, hearty, 
and a friend to the people, to whom he was familiarly known as 
the " Sailor King." 

623. Need of Parliamentary Reform; Rotten Boroughs. — 
From the beginning of this reign it was evident that the great 
question which must come up for settlement was that of parlia- 
mentary representation. Large numbers of the people of England 
had now no voice in the government. This unfortunate state of 
things was chiefly the result of the great changes which had taken 



360 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1830-1837 

place in the growth of the population of the midlands and the 
north (§§ 610, 616). 

Since the introduction of steam (§ 610) the rapid increase of 
manufactures and commerce had built up Birmingham, Leeds, 
Sheffield, Manchester, and other large towns in the iron, coal, pot- 
tery, and manufacturing districts. These important towns could 
not send a member to Parliament ; while, on the other hand, many 
places in the south of England which did send had long since 
ceased to be of any importance. Furthermore, the representa- 
tion was of the most haphazard description. In one section no 
one could vote except substantial property-holders ; in another, 
none but town officers, while in a third every man who had 
a tenement big enough to boil a pot in, and hence called a 
" Pot walloper," possessed the right. 

To this singular state of things the nation had long been indif- 
ferent. During the Middle Ages the inhabitants often had no 
desire either to go to Parliament themselves or to send others. 
The expense of the journey was great, the compensation was 
small, and unless some important matter of special interest to the 
people was at stake, they preferred to stay at home. On this 
account it was often almost as difficult for the sheriff to get a 
distant county member up to the House of Commons in London 
as it would have been to carry him there a prisoner to be tried 
for his Ufe. 

Now, however, everything was changed ; the rise of political par- 
ties (§ 531), the constant and heavy taxation, the jealousy of the 
increase of royal authority, the influence and honor of the position 
of a parliamentary representative, all conspired to make men eager 
to obtain their full share in the management of the government. 

This new interest had begun as far back as the civil wars of 
the seventeenth century, and when Cromwell came to power 
he effected many much-needed reforms. But after the restora- 
tion of the Stuarts (§ 519), the Protector's wise measures were 
repealed or neglected. Then the old order, or rather disorder, 
again asserted itself, and in many cases matters became worse 
than ever. 



1830-1837] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 36 1 

Thus, for instance, the borough or city of Old Sarum, in Wilt- 
shire, which had once been an important place, had, at an early 
period, gradually declined through the growth of New Sarum, or 
Salisbury, near by. In the sixteenth century the parent city had 
so completely decayed that not a single habitation was left on the 
desolate hill-top where the castle and cathedral once stood. At 
the foot of the hill was an old tree. The owner of that tree and 
of the field where it grew sent (1830) two members to Parliament, 
— that action represented what had been regularly going on for 
something like three hundred years ! 

In Bath, on the other hand, none of the citizens, out of a large 
population, might vote except the mayor, alderman, and common 
council. These places now got the significant name of " rotten 
boroughs " from the fact that whether large or small there was no 
longer any sound political life existing in them.^ 

624. The Reform Bill, 1832. — For fifty years after the coming 
in of the Georges the country had been ruled by a powerful Whig 
(§§ 531? 581) monopoly. Under George III that monopoly was 
broken (§ 597), and the Tories (§ 531) got possession of the gov- 
ernment; but whichever party ruled. Parliament, owing to the 
"rotten-borough" system, no longer represented the nation, but 
simply stood for the will of certain wealthy landholders and town 
corporations. 

A loud and determined demand was now made for reform. 
In this movement no one was more active or influential among the 
common people than William Cobbett. He was a vigorous and 
fearless writer, who for years published a small newspaper, called 
the Political Register, which was especially devoted to securing a 
just and uniform system of representation. 

On the accession of William IV the pressure for reform became 
so great that Parliament was forced to act. Lord John Russell 
brought in a bill (183 1) providing for the abohtion of the " rotten 

1 Many towns were so completely in the hands of the squire or some other local 
" political boss " that, when a successful candidate for Parliament thanked the voters 
for what they had done, one man replied that he need not take the trouble to thank 
them ; for, said he, " if the squire had zent his great dog we should have chosen him 
all one as if it were you, zur." — Murray, Wiltshire {Hindon). 



362 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1830-1837 

boroughs " and for a fair system of elections. But those who 
owned or controlled those boroughs had no intention of giving 
them up. Their opponents, however, were equally determined, 
and they knew that they had the support of the nation. 

In a speech which the Reverend Sydney Smith made at Taun- 
ton, he compared the futile resistance of the House of Lords to 
the proposed reform to Mrs. Partington's attempt to drive back 
the rising tide of the Atlantic with her mop. The ocean rose, 
and Mrs. Partington, seizing her mop, rose against it ; yet, not- 
withstanding the good lady's efforts, the Atlantic got the best of 
it ; so the speaker prophesied that in this case the people, like 
the Atlantic, would in the end carry the day.-^ 

When the bill came up, the greater part of the Lords and the 
bishops, who, so far as they were concerned personally, had all 
the rights and privileges they wanted, opposed it ; so too did the 
Tories (§531)? in the House of Commons. They thought that 
the proposed law threatened the stabiHty of the government. 
The Duke of Wellington (§ 618) was particularly hostile to it, and 
wrote, '' I don't generally take a gloomy view of things, but I con- 
fess that, knowing all that I do, I cannot see what is to save the 
Church, or property, or colonies, or union with Ireland, or, 
eventually, monarchy, if the Reform Bill passes." ^ 

The King dissolved Parliament (§ 583, note 2) ; a new one 
was elected, and the Reform Bill was passed by the Commons ; 
but the Upper House rejected it. Then a period of wild excite- 
ment ensued. The people in many of the towns collected 
in the pubHc squares, tolled the church bells, built bonfires in 
which they burned the bishops in effigy, with other leading oppo- 
nents of the bill, and cried out for the aboHtion of the House 
of Lords. 

In London the rabble smashed the windows of the Duke of 
WelUngton. In Bristol and Derby terrible riots broke out. At 
Nottingham the mob fired and destroyed the castle of the Duke 
of Newcastle because he was opposed to reform. All over the 

1 Sydney Smith's Essays and Speeches. 

2 Wellington's Despatches and Letters, II, 451. 



1830-1837] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 363 

country shouts were heard, " The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing 
but the Bill ! " 

625. Passage of the Bill, 1832 ; Results. — In the spring of 
1832 the battle began again with greater fierceness than ever. 
Again the House of Commons voted the bill, and once again 
the Lords defeated it. 

It was evident that matters could not go on in this manner much 
longer. The ministry, as a final measure, appealed to the King for 
help. If the Tory Lords would not pass the bill, the King had 
the power to create a sufiicient number of new Whig Lords who 
would. William now yielded to the pressure, and, much against 
his will, gave the following document to his Prime Minister : — 

" The Ki?ig grants permission to Earl Grey, a?id to his 
Chanc7Uor, Lord Brougham, to create such a 7iU7nher of Peers 
as will be sufficient to insure the passing of the Reform Bill — first 
calling up Peers^ eldest sons. 

"William R., Windsor, May 17, 1832."^ 

But there was no occasion to make use of this permission. As 
soon as the peers found that the King had granted it, they yielded. 
Those who had opposed the bill now stayed away ; the measure 
was carried, received the royal signature, and became law. 

Its passage brought about a beneficent change : ^ i. It abol- 
ished nearly sixty "rotten boroughs." 2. It gave every house- 
holder who paid a rent of ten pounds in any town a vote, and 
largely extended the list of county voters as well. 3. It granted 
two representatives to Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, and nine- 
teen other large towns, and one representative each to twenty-one 
other places, all of which had hitherto been unrepresented, besides 
granting fifteen additional members to the counties. 4. It added 
in all half a miUion of voters to the list, and it helped to purify 
the elections from the violence which had disgraced them. 

Before the passing of the Reform Bill and the legislation which 

1 " First calling up peers' eldest sons " : that is, in creating new Lords, the eldest 
sons of peers were to have the preference. William R. {Rex, King) : this is the 
customary royal signature. 

2 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxvi, § 31. 



364 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1830-1837 

supplemented it, the election of a member of Parliament was a 
kind of local reign of terror. The smaller towns were sometimes 
under the control of drunken ruffians for several weeks. During 
that time they paraded the streets in bands, assaulting voters of 
the opposite party with clubs, kidnapping prominent men and 
confining them until after the election, and perpetrating other 
outrages, which so frightened peaceable citizens that often they 
did not dare attempt to vote at all. 

626. Abolition of Slavery (1833) ; Factory Reform (1833). — 
With the new Parliament that came into power the names of 
Liberal and Conservative began to supplant those of Whig and 
Tory (§ 531). The House of Commons now reflected the will 
of the people better than ever before, and further reforms were 
accordingly carried. 

Buxton, Wilberforce, Brougham, and other philanthropists, 
against the strenuous opposition of the King, secured the pas- 
sage through ParHament of a bill (1833), for which they, with 
the younger Pitt, Clarkson, and Zachary Macaulay, had labored 
in vain for half a century. By this act all negro slaves in the 
British West India colonies, numbering eight hundred thousand, 
were set free, and the sum of ;^2 0,000,000 was appropriated to 
compensate the owners. 

It was a grand deed grandly done. Could America have fol- 
lowed that noble example, she might thereby have saved a million 
of human lives and many thousand millions of dollars which were 
cast into the gulf of civil war, while the corrupting influence of 
five years of waste and discord would have been avoided. 

But negro slaves were not the only slaves in those days. There 
were white slaves as well, — women and children born in England, 
but condemned by their necessities to work underground in the 
coal mines, or to exhaust their strength in the cotton mills. -^ They 

1 Children of six and seven years old were kept at work for twelve and thirteen 
hours continuously in the factories, and were often inhumanly treated. They were 
also employed in the coal mines at this tender age. All day long they sat in abso- 
lute darkness, opening and shutting doors for the passage of coal cars. If, overcome 
with fatigue, they fell asleep, they were cruelly beaten with a strap. See Gibbin's 
Industrial History of England. 



1830-1837] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 365 

were driven by brutal masters who cared as little for the welfare 
of those under them as the overseer of a West India plantation 
did for his gangs of toilers in the sugar-cane fields. 

Parliament at length turned its attention to these abuses, and 
greatly alleviated them by the passage of acts (1833) forbidding 
the employment of women and young children in the collieries and 
factories, while a later act put an end to the barbarous practice 
of forcing children to sweep chimneys. 

In an overcrowded country like England, the lot of the poor 
must continue to be exceptionally hard, but there is no longer 
the indifference toward it that once prevailed. Poverty there 
may still be looked upon as a crime, or something very like it ; 
but it is regarded now as a crime which may possibly have some 
exteniiating circumstances. 

627. Inventions ; the First Steam Railway, 1830 ; the Railway 
Craze ; the Friction Match. — Ever since the application of steam 
to machinery, inventors had been discussing plans for placing 
the steam engine on wheels and using it as a propelling power 
in place of horses. Macadam, a Scotch surveyor, had con- 
structed a number of very superior roads made of gravel and 
broken stone in the south of England, which soon made the 
name of macadamized turnpike celebrated. 

The question now was. Might not a still further advance be 
made by employing steam to draw cars on these roads, or better 
still, on iron rails? George Stephenson had long been experi- 
menting in that direction, and at length certain capitalists whom 
he had converted to his views succeeded in getting an act of 
Parliament for constructing a railway between Liverpool and 
Manchester, a distance of about thirty miles. 

When the road was completed by Stephenson, he had great 
difficulty in getting permission to use an engine instead of horse 
power on it. Finally his new locomotive, "The Rocket," — ■ 
which first introduced the tubular boiler, and employed the 
exhaust or escaping steam to increase the draught of the fire, — 
was tried with entire success. 

The road was formally opened in the autumn of 1830, and the 



366 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1830-1837 

Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister, was one of the few 
passengers who ventured on the trial trip.^ The growth of this 
new mode of transportation was so rapid that in five years from 
that time London and the principal seaports were connected with 
the great manufacturing towns, while steam navigation had also 
nearly doubled its vessels and its tonnage. 

Ten years later still the whole country became involved in a 
speculative craze for building railroads. Hundreds of millions of 
pounds were invested ; for a time Hudson, the " Railway King," 
as he was called, ruled supreme, and members of Parliament did 
homage to the man whose schemes promised to cover 'the whole 
island with a network of iron roads, every one of which was 
expected to make its stockholders rich. Eventually thesg pi"C>j- 
ects ended in a panic, second only to that of the South Sea 
Bubble (§ 585), and thousands found that steam could destroy 
fortunes even faster than it made them. 

Toward the close of William's reign (i 834-1 835) a humble 
invention was perfected of which little was said at the time, but 
which contributed in no small degree to the comfort and con- 
venience of every one. Up to this date the two most important 
of all civilizing agents — fire and light — could be produced only 
with much difficulty and at considerable expense. 

Various devices had been contrived to obtain them, but the 
common method continued to be the primitive one of striking a 
bit of flint and steel sharply together until a falHng spark ignited 
a piece of tinder or half-burnt rag, which, when it caught, had, 
with no little expense of breath, to be blown into a flame. The 
progress of chemistry suggested the use of phosphorus, and after 
years of experiments the friction match was invented by an 

1 " The Rocket " and Watt's first steam-pumping engine are both preserved 
in the Patent Office Museum, South Kensington, London. The tubular boiler is, 
as its name impHes, a boiler traversed by a number of tubes communicating with 
the smoke-pipe; as the heat passes through these, steam is thereby generated much 
more rapidly than it could otherwise be. The steam, after it has done its work 
in the cylinders, escapes into the smoke-pipe with great force, and of course increases 
the draught. Without these two improvements of Stephenson's the locomotive would 
never have attained a greater speed than five or six miles an hour. 



1830-1837] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 367 

English apothecary, who thus gave to the world what is now the 
commonest, and perhaps at the same time the most useful, 
domestic article in existence. 

628. Summary. — William IV' s short reign of seven years is 
marked (i) by the great Reform Bill of 1832, which took Par- 
liament out of the hands of a moneyed clique and put it under 
the control of the people ; ( 2 ) by the abolition of slavery in the 
British colonies, and factory reform; (3) by the introduction of 
the friction match, and by the building of the first successful line 
of railway. 

VICTORIA — 1837-1901 

629. The Queen's Descent ; Stability of the Government. — 

As William IV left no child to inherit the crown, he was suc- 
ceeded by his niece (see table, § 581), the Princess Victoria, 
daughter of his brother Edward, Duke of Kent. In her lineage 
the Queen represented nearly the whole past sovereignty of the 
land over which she governed.^ The blood of both Cerdic, 
the first Saxon king, and of William the Conqueror,^ flowed in 
her veins, — a fact which strikingly illustrates the vitality of 
the hereditary and conservative principles in the history of the 
English crown. 

This fact is made more conspicuous by the recent close of the 
Queen's long reign (1901). Here then let us pause and take a 
rapid survey of the ground we have passed over. 

In 1066 the Normans crossed the Channel, invaded the island, 
conquered its inhabitants, and seized the throne. Five centuries 
later the religion of Rome was supplanted by the Protestant faith 
of Luther. 

Somewhat less than a hundred years after that event, civil war 
burst forth, 1642, the King was deposed and beheaded, and 
a republic established. A few years subsequently the mon- 
archy was restored, 1660, only to be followed by the- revolution, 
1688, which changed the order of succession, drove one line of 

1 The only exceptions are the four Danish sovereigns and Harold 11. 

2 See table of the Descent of English Sovereigns in the Appendix. 



368 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

sovereigns from the land, and called in another from Germany 
to take their place. Meanwhile new political parties rose to 
power, the Reform Bill passed, 1832, and Parliament came to 
represent more perfectly the will of the whole people ; yet after 
all these events, at the end of more than ten centuries from 
the date when Egbert first assumed the crown (828), we find 
England governed by a descendant of her earliest rulers ! 

630. A New Order of Things ; the House of Commons now 
Supreme. — Queen Victoria was but little over eighteen when 
called to the throne. At her accession a new order of things 
began. The Georges, with William IV, had insisted on dismiss- 
ing their ministers, or chief political advisers, when they pleased, 
without condescending to give Parliament any reason for the 
change. That system, which may be considered as the last vestige 
of " personal government," ^ that is, of the power of the Crown to 
act without the advice of the nation, died with the late king. 

With the coronation of Victoria the principle was established 
that henceforth the sovereign of the British Empire cannot 
remove the Prime Minister or his Cabinet (§ 583) without the 
consent of the House of Commons elected by and directly rep- 
resenting the great body of the people ; nor, on the other hand, 
would the sovereign now venture to retain a ministry which the 
Commons refused to support.^ This fact shows that the House 

1 See McCarthy's History of Our Own Times. 

2 Attention has already been called (see § 583, note 2) to the fact that the Prime 
Minister, with his cabinet officers, must retain the support of the majority of the 
House of Commons. Failing to do so, custom forces him to promptly resign, or in 
case the sovereign dissolves Parliament and a new election takes place, the Prime 
Minister with his Cabinet stands or falls according to the political result. 

In order to guard herself against any political influence adverse to that of the 
ministry (and hence of the majority of the House of Commons), the Queen was com- 
pelled to consent (1841) that the Mistress of the Robes, or head of her majesty's 
household, should change at the demand of the incoming Prime Minister, and it was 
furthermore agreed that any ladies under her whose presence might be politically 
inconvenient to the Prime Minister should retire " of their own accord." In other 
words, the incoming ministry have the right to remodel the sovereign's household — or 
any other body of offices — in whatever degree they think requisite, and the late 
Prince Albert could not even appoint his own private secretary, but much to his 
chagrin had to accept one appointed for him by the Prime Minister. See May's 
Constitutional History of England and Martin's Life of the Prince Consort. 




"YOUR MAJESTY" 



Announcement to the Princess Victoria of her Accession 
to the Crown, June 20, 1837 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 369 

of Commons is now the ruling power in England, and as that 
House is expressly chosen to declare the will of the nation, it 
follows that the government of the realm is essentially democratic. 
In fact, so far as reflecting pubKc opinion is concerned, no republic 
in the world is more democratic. 

Custom, too, has decided that the sovereign must sanction any 
bill which Parliament approves and desires to make law ; ^ so that, 
as a recent writer forcibly said, if the two Houses had agreed to 
send the late Queen her own death warrant, she would have been 
obhged to sign it, or abdicate.^ 

An English sovereign's real position to-day is that of a person 
who has much indirect influence and but little direct power, — 
far less in fact than that of the President of the United States. 
He call exercise the right of vetoing a bill, and thus prevent a 
majority of Congress from enacting a law ; ^ and he can remove 
the higher executive or cabinet officers at pleasure. 

631. Sketch of the Peerage. — A change equally great has 
taken place with respect to the peers.* As that body has played 
a most important part in the government of England and still 
retains considerable influence, it may be well to consider their 
history and present condition. 

It will be remembered that the peerage originated with the 
Norman Conquest. William rewarded the barons, or chief men, 
who fought under him at Hastings^ with grants of immense 
estates, which were given on two conditions, one of mihtary 
service at the call of the sovereign (§ 200), the other their 

1 Queen Anne was the last sovereign who vetoed a bill. That was the Scotch 
Military Bill in 1707. During the period of nearly two hundred years which has 
followed no English sovereign has ventured to repeat the experiment. 

2 See Bagehot, The English Constitution, 

3 Congress may, however, pass a law over the President's veto, providing they 
can get a two-thirds vote in its favor. 

4 Peers (from the Latin pares, equals): the word first occurs in an act of Par- 
liament, 1321, — " Pares et proceres regni Angliae spirituales et temporales." 

s The names of the great barons have been preserved in Domesday Book (see 
§ 169), in the roll of Battle Abbey (though that was tampered with by the monks), 
and on the wall of the twelfth-century church at Dives, Normandy, where the 
Conqueror built his ships. 



370 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

attendance at the royal council (§ 200), an advisory and legis- 
lative body which contained the germ of the present parlia- 
mentary system. 

It will thus be seen that the Conqueror made the possession of 
landed property directly dependent on the discharge of public 
duties. So that if, on the one hand, the Conquest carried out the 

principle 

" That they should take who have the power, 
And they should keep who can," 1 

on the other, it insisted on the higher principle that in return for 
such takiftg and keeping the victors should bind themselves by 
oath to defend and to govern the state. 

In later reigns the king summoned other influential men to 
attend Parliament. To distinguish them from the original barons 
by land-tenure, they were called "barons by writ" (§ 315). 
Subsequently it became customary for the sovereign to create 
barons by letters patent, as is the method at present (§ 315). 

The original baronage continued predominant until the Wars of 
the Roses (§ 368) so nearly destroyed the ancient nobiUty that, 
as Lord Beaconsfield says, " A Norman baron was almost as rare 
a being in England then as a wolf is now." ^ With the coming in 
of the Tudors a new nobility was created (§ 404). Even this has 
become in great measure extinct. Perhaps not more than a fourth 
of those who now sit in the House of Lords can trace their titles 
further back than the Georges, who created great numbers of peers 
in return for political services either rendered or expected. 

Pohtically speaking, the nobihty of England, unlike the old 
nobihty of France, is as a rule strictly confined to the male head 
of the family. None of the children of the most powerful duke 
or lord has during his life any civil or legal rights or privileges 
above that of the poorest and obscurest peasant in Great Britain.^ 
They are simply commoners. 

1 Wordsworth, Rob Roy's Grave. 2 Beaconsfield's Coningsby. 

3 Even the younger children of the sovereign are no exception to this rule. The 
only one born with a title is the eldest, who is Duke of Cornwall by birth, and is 
created Prince of Wales. The others are simply commoners. See Freeman's 
Growth of the Enghsh Constitution. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 3/1 

But by courtesy the eldest son of any of the three highest ranks 
of the nobility (§315, note) receives a part of his father's title. 
At his death he enters into possession of his estate ^ and rank, and 
takes his seat in the House of Lords, having in many cases been 
a member of the House of Commons by election for a number of 
years before. The younger sons of a duke or marquis have the 
courtesy title of " Lord " prefixed to their Christian names, but 
they inherit neither poHtical power nor landed property. They 
generally obtain offices in the civil service, or positions in the 
army or the Church. 

The whole number of peers is about six hundred.^ They 
may be said to own most of the land of England. Their average 
incomes are estimated at ^^22,000 (^110,000), or an aggregate 
of ;^il,ooo,ooo (^55,000,000), an amount which probably falls 
short of the combined incomes of half a dozen leading American 
capitaHsts. 

One of the most remarkable things about the peerage in modem 
times is the fact that its ranks have been constantly recruited from 
the people. Just as any boy in America feels himself a possible 
senator or president, so any one born or naturaHzed in England 
may, Hke Pitt, Disraeli, Churchill, Nelson, Wellesley, Brougham, 
Tennyson, Macaulay, or the American Lord Lyndhurst,^ hope to 
win and wear a coronet ; for brains and character go to the front 
in England just as surely as they do elsewhere. 

In their legislative action the peers are, with very rare excep- 
tions, extremely conservative. They have seldom granted their 
assent to any liberal measure except from pressure of the most 
unmistakable kind. It is for their interest to keep things as they 
are, and hence they naturally fight against every tendency to give 
the people a larger measure of power. They opposed the Habeas 

1 So strictly is property entailed that there are proprietors of large estates who 
cannot so much as cut down a tree without permission of the heir. Badeau's 
English Aristocracy. 

2 The full assembly of the House of Lords would consist of five hundred 
and sixty-two temporal peers and twenty-six spiritual peers (archbishops and 
bishops) . 

3 J. S. Copley (Lord Lyndhurst), son of the famous artist, born in Boston, 1772. 



3/2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

Corpus Act under Charles II, the Great Reform Bill of 1832, the 
Education Bill of 1834, the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, 
the admission of the Jews to Parliament in 1858, and reluctantly 
consented to the later extensions of the elective franchise. 

But, on the other hand, it was their influence which compelled 
John to sign Magna Carta in 1 2 1 5 ; it was one of their number — 
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester — who called the House of 
Commons into being in 1265 ; and it was the Lords as leaders 
who inaugurated the Revolution of 1688, and established consti- 
tutional sovereignty under William and Mary in the place of the 
despotic self-will of James 11. Again, it was Disraeli, the leader 
of the Tory or Conservative party, who carried the Reform Bill of 
1867, by which suffrage was largely extended. 

It is the fashion with impatient radicals to style the Lords . 
"titled obstructionists," privileged to block the way to all 
improvements ; but as a matter of fact they have often done 
the country good service by checking hurried and ill-considered 
legislation. There are indications that the time may not be 
very far distant when a hereditary House of Lords will cease to 
exist, yet there will always be need in England, as in every other 
civilized country, of an upper legislative house, composed of men 
whose motto is to "make haste slowly." 

Meanwhile, though England continues to lay strong emphasis 
on nobility of rank and blood, yet she is never forgetful of 
the honor due to nobility of character. Perhaps it is the 
consciousness of this fact which in recent times has led men 
like the late Mr. Gladstone to decline a title, content, as not 
a few of the descendants of the old Saxon families are, with the 
influence won by an unsullied name and a long and illustrious 
career. 

Eight hundred years ago the House of Lords was the only 
legislative and executive body in the country; now, nearly all 
the business is done in the House of Commons (consisting of 
some six hundred and seventy members), and not a penny of 
money can be voted for any purpose whatever except the Com- 
mons first propose it. Thus taxation, the most important of all 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 373 

measures, has passed from the Lords to the direct representatives 
of the people.^ 

632. The Queen's Marriage (1840). — In her twenty-first year, 
Queen Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg 
Gotha, a duchy of Central Germany.^ The Prince was about her 
own age, of fine personal appearance, and had just graduated 
from one of the German universities. He was particularly 

1 other measures may originate in either House, but practically nearly all begin 
with the Commons, though they require the assent of the Lords to become law. 
This, however, is now never refused for any great length of time in any important 
legislation which the people demand. The following points are also of interest : — 

1. All laws relating to the rights of peers must originate in the House of Lords. 
Estate and naturalization laws also begin in the Lords. 

2. A law directly affecting the House of Commons originates in that House. 

3. There is only one bill which the Crown has the right of initiating, — an Act of 
General Pardon. 

When a bill has passed both Houses, it receives the royal assent in the following 
words (a form which probably originated with the Norman kings) : " Le roi (or la 
reine) le veult " (The King or the Queen so wills it) ; when, in the past, the royal 
assent was refused, the denial was expressed thus : " Le roi (or la reine) s'avisera " 
(The King or the Queen will consider it). This form was used for the last time in 
1707, when Queen Anne refused to sign a military bill. Since then no English 
sovereign has vetoed a parliamentary bill. 

The House of Lords is the Supreme Court of Appeal in the kingdom, and it is 
the tribunal by which persons impeached by the House of Commons are tried. 

2 Income of the Sovereign and Royal Family. — Up to the accession of George III 
the royal income was derived from two sources: i. Taxation. 2. The rents and 
profits of the crown lands. George IH surrendered his right to these lands in return 
for a fixed income granted by Parliament. Since then, every sovereign has done the 
same. The late Queen's income was _^385,ooo (^1,863,400, calling the pound ^4.84). 
The royal family received in addition ^156,000 (^755,040), or a total of ^541,000 
(^2,618,440). 

The English sovereign has at present the following powers, all of which are 
practically vested in the ministry : — 

1. The power of summoning, proroguing (suspending the action of), and 
dissolving Parliament at pleasure. 

2. Of refusing assent to any bill (obsolete). 

3. Of making peace, declaring war, and making treaties. 

4. Of pardoning convicted offenders ; of coining money. 

5. Of creating peers, appointing archbishops and bishops, and in general granting 
all titles of rank and honor. 

6. Of the supreme command of the army and navy. The appointment to all 
offices in the gift of the Government, which was formerly in the hands of the sover- 
eign, is now under the control of the Prime Minister, acting in connection with the 
civil-service and other commissions. 



374 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

interested in art and education, and throughout his hfe used 
his influence to raise the standard of both. 

633. Sir Rowland Hill's Postal Reforms (1839). — The pre- 
ceding year Sir Rowland Hill introduced a uniform system of 
cheap postage. The rate had been as high as a shilling for a 
single letter.^ Such a charge was practically prohibitive, and, as a 
rule, no one wrote in those days if he could possibly avoid it. 
Sir Rowland reduced it to a penny (paid by stamp) to any part of 
the United Kingdom.^ Since then the Government has taken 
over all the telegraph Hues, and cheap telegrams and the trans- 
portation of parcels by mail (a kind of government express known 
as parcels-post) have followed. They are all improvements of 
immense practical benefit. 

634. Rise of the Chartists (1838-1848). — The feeling attend- 
ing the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832 (§625) had passed 
away ; but now a popular agitation began which produced even 
greater excitement. Although the act of 1832 had equalized 
parliamentary representation and had enlarged the elective 
franchise to a very considerable degree, yet the great body of 
workingmen were still shut out from the right to vote. A radical 
party called the " Chartists " now arose, which undertook to secure 
further measures of reform. 

They embodied their measures in a document called the 
"People's Charter," which demanded: i. Universal male suf- 
frage. 2. That the voting at elections should be by ballot. 
3. Annual Parliaments. 4. The payment of members of Par- 
liament. 5. The abolition of the property quahfication for 

1 An illustration of the effects of such high charges for postage is related by- 
Coleridge. He says that he met a poor woman at Keswick just as she was return- 
ing a letter from her son to the postman, saying she could not afford to pay for it. 
Coleridge gave the postman the shilling, and the woman then told the poet that the 
letter was really nothing more than a blank sheet which her son had agreed to send 
her every three months to let her know he was well ; as she always declined to take 
this dummy letter, it of course cost her nothing. See G. B. Hill's Life of Sir 
Rowland Hill, I, 239, note. 

2 The London papers made no end of fun of the first envelopes and the first 
postage-stamps (1840). See the facsimile of the ridiculous " Mulready Envelope" 
in Hill's Life, I, 393. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 375 

parliamentary candidates.^ 6. The division of the whole country 
into equal electoral districts. 

The Chartists held public meetings, organized clubs, and pub- 
lished newspapers to disseminate their principles, but for many 
years made very little visible progress. The French revolution 
which dethroned King Louis Philippe (1848) imparted fresh 
impetus to the Chartist movement. The leader of that move- 
ment was Feargus O'Connor. He formed the plan of sending a 
monster petition to Parliament, containing, it was claimed, nearly 
five million signatures, praying for the passage of the People's 
Charter. 

A procession of a million or more of signers was to act as an 
escort to the document, which made a wagon-load in itself. The 
Goveriitnent became alarmed at the threatened demonstration, 
and forbade it, on the ground that it was an attempt to coerce 
legislation. In order that peace might be preserved in London, 
two hundred and fifty thousand special policemen were sworn in, 
among whom, it is said, was Louis Napoleon, then a refugee 
in England. 

The Duke of WeUington took command of a large body of 
troops held in reserve to defend the city; and the Bank of 
England, the Houses of Parliament, the British Museum, and 
other public buildings were made ready to withstand a siege. 

It was now the Chartists' turn to be frightened. When they 
assembled (1848) on Kennington Common in London, they num- 
bered less than thirty thousand, and the procession of a million 
which was to march across Westminster Bridge dwindled to half 
a dozen. When the huge petition was unrolled it was found to 
contain only about a third of the boasted number of names. 
Further examination showed that many of the signatures were spu- 
rious, having been put down in jest, or copied from gravestones 

1 Property qualification: in 171 1 an act was passed requiring candidates for 
election to the House of Commons to have an income of not less than ^2i°° 
derived from landed property. The object of this law was to secure members 
■who would be comparatively free from the temptation of receiving bribes from the 
Crown, and also to keep the landed proprietors in power to the exclusion of rich 
merchants. This law was repealed in 1858. 



376 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

and old London directories. With that discovery the whole 
movement collapsed, and the House of Commons rang with 
"inextinguishable laughter" over the national scare. 

Still the demands of the Chartists had a solid foundation of 
good sense, which not even the blustering bravado of the leaders 
of the movement could wholly destroy. The reforms asked for 
were needed. Since then the steady, quiet influence of reason 
and of time has compelled Parliament to grant the greater part 
of them.^ 

The printed or written ballot has been substituted for the old 
method of electing candidates by a show of hands or by shouting 
yes or no, — a method by which it was easy to make blunders, 
and equally easy to commit frauds. The property qualification 
has been abolished, so that the poorest day-laborer may now run 
for Parliament. The right of " manhood suffrage " has been, as 
we shall see, greatly extended, and before the twentieth century 
has far advanced it seems safe to say that every man in England 
will have a voice in the elections. 

635. The Corn Laws (1841). — At the accession of the 
Queen protective duties or taxes existed in Great Britain on all 
imported breadstuffs and on many manufactured articles. When 
Sir Robert Peel became Prime Minister (1841) he favored a 
reduction in the last class of duties, but believed it necessary to 
maintain the former in order to keep up the price of grain and 
thus encourage the English farmers. The result of this policy 
was great distress among workingmen, who could not afford out 
of their miserable wages to pay high prices for bread. A num- 
ber of philanthropists led by Richard Cobden and John Bright 
organized an Anti-Corn Law League ^ to obtain the repeal of the 
grain duties. 

At the same time, Ebenezer Elliott, the " Corn-Law Rhymer," 

1 Sir Thomas Erskine May, in his Constitutional History of England, says : 
" Not a measure has been forced upon Parliament which the calm judgment of a 
later time has not since approved ; not an agitation has failed which posterity has 
not condemned." 

2 Corn is the name given in England to wheat or other grain used for food. 
Indian corn, called maize, is seldom eaten. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 37/ 

as he was popularly called, gave voice to the sufferings of the poor 
in rude but vigorous verse, which appealed to the excited feelings 
of thousands in such words as these : — 

" England ! what for mine and me, 
What hath bread-tax done for thee ? 



Cursed thy harvests, cursed thy land, 
Hunger-stung thy skill'd right hand." 

When, however, session after session of Parliament passed and 
nothing was done for the relief of the perishing multitudes, many 
were in despair, and at meetings held to discuss measures, crowds 
joined in singing Elhott's new national anthem : — 

"^ " When wilt Thou save the people ? 

O God of mercy ! when ? 
Not kings and lords, but nations ! 

Not thrones and crowns, but men ! 
Flowers of thy heart, O God, are they ! 
Let them not pass, like weeds, away ! 
Their heritage a sunless day ! 

God save the people ! " . 

Still the Government was not convinced ; the Corn Laws were 
enforced, and the situation grew daily more desperate and more 
threatening. 

636. The Irish Famine (1845-1846) ; Repeal of the Corn Laws, 
1 846-1 849 ; Free Trade. — At last the Irish famine opened the 
Prime Minister's eyes (§ 635). When in Elizabeth's reign Sir 
Walter Raleigh introduced the cheap but precarious potato into 
Ireland, his motive was one of pure good will. He could not 
foresee that it would in time become in that country an almost 
universal food, that through its very abundance the population 
would rapidly increase, and that then by the sudden failure of the 
crop terrible destitution would ensue. Such was the case in the 
summer of 1845. It is said by eye-witnesses that in a single 
night the entire potato crop was destroyed by bhght, and that 
the healthy plants were transformed into a mass of putrefying 



3/8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

vegetation. Thus at one fell stroke the food of nearly a whole 
nation was cut off.^ 

In the years that followed, the famine became appalling. The 
starving peasants left their miserable huts and streamed into the 
towns for relief, only to die of hunger in the streets. 

Parliament responded nobly to the piteous calls for help, and 
voted in all no less than ;^ 10,000,000 to relieve the distress.^ 
Subscriptions were also taken up in London and the chief towns, 
by which large sums were obtained, and America contributed 
shiploads of provisions and a good deal of money; but the 
misery was so great that even these measures failed to accom- 
plish what was hoped. When the famine was over, it was found 
that Ireland had lost about two million (or one-fourth) of her 
population.^ This was the combined effect of starvation, of the 
various diseases that followed in its path, and of emigration.* 

In the face of such appalling facts, and of the bad harvests 
and distress in England, the Prime Minister could hold out no 
longer, and by a gradual process, extending from 1846 to 1849, 
the obnoxious Corn Laws were repealed, with the exception of a 
trifling duty, which was finally removed in 1869. 

The beginning once made, free trade in nearly everything, 
except wine, spirits, and tobacco, followed. They were, and still 
are, subject to a heavy duty, perhaps because the Government 
believes, as Napoleon did, that the vices have broad backs and 
can comfortably carry the heaviest taxes. A few years later 
(1849) the old Navigation Laws (§511) were totally repealed. 
This completed the English free-trade measures. But, by a 
singular contrast, while nearly all goods and products now enter 
England free, yet Australia, Canada, and nearly every other 
colony continue to impose duties on imports from the mother- 
country. 

1 O'Connor, The Parnell Movement (The Famine), 

2 Molesworth's History of England from 1830. 

3 The actual number of deaths from starvation, or fever caused by insufficient 
food, was estimated at from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand. See 
Encyclopaedia Britannica, " Ireland." 

4 McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, Vol. I. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 379 

637. The World's Fair (1851) ; Repeal of the Window and the 
Newspaper Tax; the Atlantic Cable (1866). — The great indus- 
trial exhibition known as the "World's Fair" was opened in 
Hyde Park, London (185 1). The original plan of it was con- 
ceived by Prince Albert. It proved to be not only a complete 
success in itself, but it led to many similar fairs on the part of 
different nations. For the first time in history the products 
and inventions of all the countries of the globe were brought 
together under one roof, in a gigantic structure of glass and iron 
called the "Crystal Palace," which is still in use for exhibition 
purposes at Sydenham, a suburb of London. 

The same year (1851) the barbarous tax on light and air, 
known as the "Window Tax," was repealed and the House Tax 
substittlted for it. From that date the Englishman, whether in 
London or out, might enjoy his sunshine, — when he could get 
it, — without having to pay for every beam : a luxury which only 
the rich could afford. 

A Kttle later (1855) a stamp tax on newspapers, which had 
been devised in Queen Anne's time in the avowed hope of crush- 
ing them out, was repealed. The result was that henceforth the 
workingman, as he sat by his fireside, could inform himself of what 
the world was doing and thinking, — two things of which he had 
before known almost nothing, and cared, perhaps, even less. 

To get this news of the world's hfe more speedily, the first 
Atlantic cable, connecting England with America, was laid (1858). 
It soon gave out, but was permanently relaid not long afterward 
(1866). Since then a large .part of the globe has been joined in 
like manner, and all the great cities of every civiHzed land are 
practically one in their knowledge of events. So many improve- 
ments have also been made in the use of electricity, not only for 
the transmission of intelligence, but as an illuminator, and more 
recently still as a motive power, that it now seems probable that 
" the age of steam " is soon to be superseded by the higher " age 
of electricity." 

638. The Opium War (1839) ; the War in the Crimea (1854) ; 
the Rebellion in India (1857). — For nearly twenty years after 



3So LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

Victoria's accession no wars occurred in her reign worthy of 
mention, with the exception of that with China (1839). At that 
time the Chinese Emperor, either from a desire to put a stop to 
the consumption of opium in his dominions, or because he wished 
to encourage the home production of the drug,^ prohibited its 
importation. As the EngHsh in India were largely engaged in 
the production of opium for the Chinese market, — the people 
of that country smoking it instead of tobacco, — the British Gov- 
ernment insisted that the Emperor should not interfere with so 
lucrative a trade. War ensued. 

The Chinese, being unable to contend against English gun- 
boats, were soon forced to withdraw their prohibition of the 
foreign opium traffic. The English Government, with the planters 
of India, reaped a golden reward of many millions for their 
deliberate violation of the rights of a heathen and half-civilized 
people. The war opened five important ports to British trade, 
and subsequent wars opened a number more on the rivers in the 
interior. This action, with the later aggressions of other Euro- 
pean powers, roused an intensely bitter feeling amOng large 
numbers of the Chinese. Their hatred of foreigners finally 
led to a desperate attempt (1900) to drive all Europeans and 
Americans, including missionaries, out of the country. 

Next, Turkey declared war against Russia (1853). The latter 
Power had insisted on protecting all Christians in the Turkish 
dominions against the oppression of the Sultan. England and 
France considered the Czar's championship of the Christians as a 
mere pretext for occupying Turkish territory. To prevent this 
aggression they formed an alliance with the Sultan, which resulted 
in the Russo-Turkish war, and ended by the taking of Sebastopol 
by the aUied forces. Russia was obliged to retract her demands, 
and peace was declared (1856). 

1 By far the greater part of the opium consumed in China is now raised, either 
with or without the full consent of the Government, by the Chinese themselves. The 
probability is that before many years the home production will supply the entire 
demand, and thus exclude importations of the drug from India. It is estimated 
that about one hundred millions of the population of China are addicted to 
opium-smoking. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 38 1 

The following year (1857) was memorable for the outbreak of 
the Sepoy rebellion in India. The real cause of the revolt was 
probably a long-smothered feeling of resentment on the part of 
the Sepoy, or native, troops against English rule, — a feeli^iig 
that dates back to the extortion and misgovernment of Warren 
Hastings (§ 603). The immediate cause of the uprising was the 
introduction of an improved rifle using a greased cartridge, which 
had to be bitten off before being rammed down. 

To the Hindoo the fat of cattle or swine is an abomination, 
and his religion forbids his tasting it. An attempt on the part of 
the British Government to enforce the use of the new cartridge 
brought on a general mutiny among three hundred thousand 
Sepoys. During the revolt the native troops perpetrated the 
most Itorrible atrocities on the English women and children who 
fell into their hands. When the insurrection was finally quelled 
under Havelock and Campbell, the English soldiers retaliated by 
binding numbers of prisoners to the mouths of cannon and blow- 
ing them to shreds. At the close of the rebellion, the government 
of India was wholly transferred to the Crown, and later the 
Queen received the title of "Empress of India" (1876). 

639. Death of Prince Albert ; the American Civil War (1861). 
— Not long after the Sepoy rebellion was quelled. Prince Albert 
(§ 632) died suddenly (1861). In him the nation lost an earnest 
promoter of social, educational, and industrial reforms, and the 
United. States, a true and judicious friend, who at a most critical 
period in the Civil War used his influence to maintain peace 
between the two countries. 

After his death the Queen held no court for many years, and 
so complete was her seclusion that Sir Charles Dilke, a radical 
member of Parliament, suggested (1868) that her majesty be 
invited to abdicate or choose a regent. The suggestion was 
indignantly rejected; but it revealed the feeling, which quite 
generally existed, that " the real Queen died with her husband," 
and that only her shadow remained. 

In the spring of the year (1861) in which Prince Albert died, 
civil war broke out between the Northern and Southern States of 



382 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

the American Union. A few weeks later the Queen issued a 
proclamation declaring her "determination to maintain a strict 
and impartial neutrality in the contest between the said contend- 
ing parties." The rights of belligerents — in other words, all the 
rights of war according to the law of nations — were granted to 
the South equally with the North; and her majesty's subjects 
were warned against aiding either side in the conflict. 

The progress of the war caused terrible distress in Lancashire, 
owing to the cutting off of supplies of cotton for the mills through 
the blockade of the ports of the Confederate States. The starving 
weavers, however, gave their moral support to the North, and 
continued steadfast to the cause of the Union even in the sorest 
period of their suffering. The great majority of the manufacturers 
and business classes generally, and the nobihty, with a few excep- 
tions, sympathized with the efforts of the South to establish an 
independent Confederacy. Most of the distinguished pohtical and 
social leaders, in Parhament and out, with nearly all the influen- 
tial journals, were on the same side and were openly hostile to the 
Union. -^ 

Late in the autumn (1861) Captain Wilkes, of the United 
States Navy, boarded the British mail-steamer Trefit, and seized 
Messrs. Mason and Slidell, Confederate commissioners, on their 
way to England. When intelhgence of the act was conveyed to 
President Lincoln, he expressed his unqualified disapproval of it, 
saying : " This is the very thing the British captains used to do. 
They claimed the right of searching American ships, and taking 
men out of them. That was the cause of the War of 181 2. Now, 

1 Lord John Russell (Foreign Secretary), Lord Brougham, Sir John Bowring, 
Carlyle, Ruskin, and the London Times and Punch espoused the cause of the South 
more or less openly; while others, like Mr. Gladstone, declared their full belief in 
the ultimate success of the Confederacy. 

On the other hand, Prince Albert, the Duke of Argyll, John Bright, John Stuart 
Mill, Professor Newman, and the London Daily News defended the cause of the 
North. 

After the death of President Lincoln, Punch manfully acknowledged (see issue 
of May 6, 1865) that it had been altogether wrong in its estimate of him and his 
measures ; and Mr. Gladstone, in his Kin beyond Sea in Gleanings of Past Years, 
paid a noble tribute to the course pursued by America since the close of the war. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 383 

we cannot abandon our own principles ; we shall have to give up 
these men, and apologize for what we have done." 

The British Government made a formal demand that the 
commissioners should be given up. Through the influence of 
the Prince-Consort, and with the approval of the Queen, this 
demand was couched in most conciliatory language. Slidell and 
Mason were handed over to Great Britain, and an apology 
was made by Secretary Seward. 

During the progress of the war a number of fast-saihng vessels 
were fitted out in England, and employed in running the block- 
ade of the Southern ports, to supply them with arms, ammunition, 
and manufactured goods of various kinds. Later, several gun- 
boats were built in British shipyards by agents of the Confeder- 
ate government, for the purpose of attacking the commerce of 
the United States. The most famous of these privateers was 
the Alabama, built expressly for the Confederate service by the 
Lairds, of Birkenhead, armed with British cannon, and manned 
chiefly by British sailors. 

Charles Francis Adams, the American Minister at London, 
notified Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, of her true char- 
acter. But Palmerston permitted the Alabama to leave port 
(1862), satisfied with the pretext that she was going on a trial 
trip.^ She set sail on her career of destruction, and soon drove 
nearly every American merchant-vessel from the seas. Two 
years later (1864) she was defeated and sunk by the United 
States gunboat Kearsarge. After the war the Government of 
the United States demanded damages from Great Britain for 
losses caused by the Alabama and other Enghsh-built privateers. 

A treaty was agreed to by the two nations; and by its pro- 
visions an international court was held at Geneva, Switzerland 
(1872), which awarded ^15,500,000 in gold as compensation to 
the United States, which was duly paid. The most important 
result of this treaty and tribunal was that they established a 
precedent for settling by arbitration on equitable and amicable 

1 The Queen's advocate gave his opinion that the Alabama should be detained ; 
but it reached the Foreign Secretary (Lord Russell) just after she had put to sea. 



384 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

terms whatever questions might arise in future between the 
two nations.^ 

640. Municipal Reform (1835); Woman Suffrage; the Jews; 
the Second and Third Reform Acts (1867, 1884); County and 
Parish Councils (1888, 1894). — Excellent as was the Reform Bill 
of 1832 (§625), it did not go far enough. There was also great 
need of municipal reform, since in many cities the tax-payers had 
no voice in the management of local affairs, and the city officers 
spent the income of large charitable funds in feasting and merry- 
making while the poor got little or nothing. 

A law was passed (1835) giving tax-payers in cities (except 
London) control of municipal elections. By a subsequent amend- 
ment, the ballot in such cases was extended to women,^ and for 
the first time perhaps in modern history woman suffrage was for- 
mally granted by supreme legislative act. A number of years later 
the political restrictions imposed on the Jews were removed. 

The Jews, as a class, were often wealthy and influential in 
London and some other cities. They were entitled to vote 
and hold municipal office, but they were debarred from Parliament 
by a law which required them to make oath " on the faith of a 
Christian." The law was now so modified (1858) that Baron 
Rothschild^ took his seat among the legislators of the country. 
Finally the Oaths Act (1888) abohshed all religious tests in 
Parhament. 

In 1867 Mr. DisraeH (afterward Earl of Beaconsfield), the 
leader of the Tory or Conservative party, brought in a second 
Reform Bill (§625), which became a law. This provided what 

1 This treaty imposed duties on neutral governments of a far more stringent sort 
than Great Britain had hitherto been willing to concede. It resulted, furthermore, 
in the passage of an act of Parliament, punishing with severe penalties such illegal 
ship-building as that of the Alabama. See Sheldon Amos, Fifty Years of the 
English Constitution, 1830-1880. 

2 Woman suffrage in municipal elections was granted to single women and 
widows (householders) in 1869. In 1870 an act was passed enabUng them to vote at 
school-board elections, and also to become members of such boards. By act of 1894 
women were made eligible to sit and vote in district and parish councils (or local 
government elections). 

3 Rothschild (Ros'child, English pronunciation). 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 385 

is called "household suffrage," or, in other words, gave the right 
to vote to all male householders in the English parliamentary 
boroughs (that is, towns having the right to elect one or more 
members to Parliament), who paid a tax for the support of the 
poor, and to all lodgers paying a rental of ;^io yearly; it also 
increased the number of voters among small property-holders 
in counties.^ 

There still, however, remained a large class in the country dis- 
tricts for whom nothing had been done. The men who tilled 
the soil were wretchedly poor and deplorably ignorant. Joseph 
Arch, a Warwickshire farm laborer, who had been educated by 
hunger and toil, succeeded in establishing a national union 
among men of his class, of which he became president, and 
eventually, mainly through his eiforts, they secured the ballot. 
A third Reform Act (1884) gave all residents of counties through- 
out the United Kingdom the right to vote on the same conditions 
as the residents of towns. ^ 

It is estimated that this law added about two and a half millions 
of voters, and that there is now one voter to every six persons of 
the total population, whereas, before the passing of the first Re- 
form Bill (1832), there was not over one in fifty. In the first 
"People's Parliament" (1886) Joseph Arch, and several others, 
were returned as representatives of classes of the population who, 
up to that date, had no voice in the legislation of the country. The 
next step will probably bring universal " manhood suffrage." 
The County Council and Parish Council acts (1888, 1894) 
greatly extended the power of the people in all matters of local 
government, so that now every village in England controls its 
own affairs. 

641. Abolition of Compulsory Church Rates ; Disestablish- 
ment of the Irish Episcopal Church (1869) ; the Education 
Acts. — While these reforms were taking place with respect to 
elections, others of great importance were also being effected. 
Since its establishment the Church of England had compelled all 

1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxvi, § 31. 

2 See above reference. 



386 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

persons, of whatever belief, to pay taxes for the maintenance of 
the church of the parish where they resided. Methodists, Bap- 
tists, and other Dissenters (§§ 548, 556) objected to this law as 
unjust, since in addition to the expense of supporting their own 
form of worship, they were obliged to contribute toward main- 
taining one with which they had no sympathy. So great had the 
opposition become to paying their "church rates," that there 
were over fifteen hundred parishes in England (1859) in which 
the authorities could not collect them. After much agitation 
Mr. Gladstone carried through a bill (1868) which aboUshed this 
mode of tax and made the payment of rates purely voluntary.^ 

A similar act of justice was soon after granted to Ireland 
(1869).^ At the time of the union of the two countries in 1800 
(§ 609), the maintenance of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
continued to remain obligatory upon the Irish people, although 
only a very small part of them were of that faith. Mr. Glad- 
stone's law disestabHshing this branch of the National Church 
left all religious denominations in Ireland to the voluntary sup- 
port of those who belonged to them. Henceforth the English 
Protestant resident in that country could no longer claim the privi- 
lege of worshipping God at the expense of his Roman Catholic 
neighbor. 

In 1870 Mr. Forster, a member of the Cabinet, succeeded in 
passing the Elementary Education Act. It estabhshed a system 
of common schools throughout the kingdom under the direction 
of a government board, and hence popularly known as " Board 
Schools." Up to this date most of the children of the poor had 
been educated in schools maintained by the Church of England, 
the various dissenting denominations, and by charitable associa- 
tions, or such endowments as those of Edward VI (§417). 

It was found, however, that more than half of the children of the 
country were not reached by these institutions, but were growing 

1 Church rates were levied on all occupiers of land or houses within the parish. 
The Church of England is now mainly supported by a tax on landowners, and by its 
endowments, 

2 The Disestablishment Bill was passed in 1869, and took effect in 1871. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 387 

Up in such a state of dense ignorance that in the agricultural dis- 
tricts a large proportion could neither read nor write. By the 
" Board Schools " elementary instruction is made compulsory, and, 
later (1891), Parliament passed an act which practically made 
education, up to the age of fifteen, free to the poorest. 

Meanwhile (1871) the universities and colleges, with most of 
the offices and professorships connected with them, were thrown 
open to all persons without regard to religious belief; whereas, 
formerly, no one could graduate from Oxford or Cambridge 
without subscribing to the doctrines of the Church of England. 

642. The First Irish Land Act (1870). — The same year that 
the Government undertook to provide for the education of the 
masses (1870) (§ 641), Mr. Gladstone, then Prime Minister and 
head of the Liberal party (§ 626), brought in a bill for the relief of 
the Irish peasantry. Since the union (§ 609) much of the general 
policy of England toward Ireland had been described as "a quick 
alternation of kicks and kindness." Gladstone did not hesitate 
to say that he believed that the misery of the island sprang 
mainly from its misgovernment. He thought that the small 
farmer needed immediate help. The circumstances under which 
land was held in Ireland were pecuHar. A very large part — in 
fact about all the best of that island — was owned by Englishmen 
whose ancestors obtained it through the wholesale confiscations 
of James I, Cromwell (§§475, 505), and later sovereigns, in 
punishment for rebelHon. 

Very few English landlords cared to reside in the country or 
to do anything for its improvement. Their overseers believed 
they did their whole duty when they forced the farm tenants to 
pay the largest amount of rent that could be wrung from them, 
and they had it in their power to dispossess a tenant of his land 
whenever they saw fit, without giving a reason for the act. If by 
his labor the tenant made the land more fertile, he reaped no 
profit from his industry, for the rent was at once increased, and 
swallowed up all that he raised. Such a system of extortion was 
destructive to the peasant farmer, and produced nothing for him 
but misery and discontent. 



388 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

The new law endeavored to remedy these evils by providing, 
first, that if a landlord ejected a rent-paying tenant, he should pay 
him damages, and allow him a fair sum for whatever improve- 
ments he had made. Secondly, provision was made for a ready 
means of arbitration between landlord and tenant, and the tenant 
who failed to pay an exorbitant rate was not to be hastily or 
unjustly driven from the land. Finally, the tenant might bor- 
row a certain sum from the Government for the purpose of 
purchasing the land in case the owner was willing to sell. 

643. Distress in Ireland; the Land League (1879). — It was 
hoped by the friends of the measure that the new law would be 
productive of reHef ; but the potato crop again failed in Ireland 
(187 6- 187 9), and the country seemed threatened with another 
great famine (§ 636). Thousands who could not get the means , 
to pay even a moderate rent, much less the amounts demanded, 
were now forced to leave their cabins and seek shelter in the 
bogs, with the prospect of dying there of starvation. 

This deplorable state of things led a number of influential 
Irishmen to form a Land League (1879). It had for its object 
the aboHtion of the landlord system, and the securing of such 
legislation as should eventually give the Irish peasantry possession 
of the soil they cultivated. 

Later, the League came to have a membership of several 
hundred thousand persons, extending over the greater part of 
Ireland. Finding that it was difficult to get parliamentary help 
for their grievances, the League resolved to try a different kind 
of tactics. Accordingly they formed a compact not to work for, 
buy from, sell to, or have any intercourse with, landlords, or their 
agents, who extorted exorbitant rent, ejected tenants unable to 
pay, or took possession of land from which tenants had been 
unjustly driven. This process of social excommunication was 
first tried on an English agent, or overseer, named Boycott, and 
soon became famous under the name of " boycotting." 

As the struggle went on, many of the suffering poor became 
desperate. Farm buildings belonging to landlords and their 
agents were burned, cattle horribly mutilated, and a number of 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 389 

the agents shot. At the same time the cry rose of " No Rent, 
Death to the Landlords ! " Hundreds of tenants now refused to 
pay for the places they held, and even attacked those who did. 

Eventually the lawlessness of the country provoked the Gov- 
ernment to take severe measures ; it suppressed the Land League 
(1881), which was believed to be responsible for the refusal to 
pay rent, and for the accompanying outrages ; but it could not 
extinguish the feehng which gave rise to that organization, and it 
soon burst forth more violently than ever. 

644. The Second Irish Land Act (1881) ; Fenian and Commu- 
nist Outrages Mr. Gladstone succeeded in carrying through a 

second Irish land law (1881) (§ 642), which it was hoped might 
be more effective in relieving the Irish peasants than the first 
had been*: This measure was familiarly known as the "Three F's," 
— Fair-rent, Fixity-of- tenure, and Free-sale. By the provisions 
of this act the tenant can appeal to a board of land commission- 
ers appointed by the law to fix the rate of his rent in case the 
demands made by the landlord seem to him excessive. 

Next, he can continue to hold his farm, provided he pays the 
rate determined on, for a period of fifteen , years, during which 
time the rent cannot be raised nor the tenant evicted except for 
violation of agreement or persistent neglect or waste of the land ; 
lastly, he may sell his tenancy when he sees fit to the highest 
bidder. This law was later amended and extended in the interest 
of the peasant farmer (1887). 

The year following the passage of this second Land Act, Lord 
Frederick Cavendish, chief secretary of Ireland, and Mr. Burke, 
a prominent government official, were murdered in Phoenix Park, 
Dublin (1882). Later, members of various secret and commu- 
nistic societies perpetrated dynamite outrages in London and 
other parts of England for the purpose of intimidating the Gov- 
ernment. These dastardly plots for destruction and murder were 
denounced with horror by the leaders of the Irish National Party, 
who declared that " the cause of Ireland was not to be served by 
the knife of the assassin or the infernal machine." 

Notwithstanding the vindictive feeling which these rash acts 



390 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

caused, despite also of the passage of the Coercion Bill (1887), 
the majority of the more intelhgent and thoughtful of the Irish 
people had faith in the logic of events. They believed it would 
ultimately obtain for them the full enjoyment of those pohtical 
rights which England so fully possesses. It will be seen (§ 656) 
that recent legislation has justified their faith.^ 

645. The Leading Names in Science, Literature, and Art. — In 
the progress of science the present age has had no equal in the 
past history of England, except in the discovery of the law of 
gravitation by Sir Isaac Newton (§ 533). That great thinker 
demonstrated that all forms of matter, great or small, near or 
distant, are governed by one universal law. In like manner the 
researches of the past fifty years have virtually established the 
belief that all material forms, whether living or not, obey an 
equally universal law of development, by which the higher are 
derived from the lower through a succession of gradual but 
progressive changes. 

This conception originated long before the beginning of the 
Victorian era, but it lacked the acknowledged support of care- 
fully examined facts, and was regarded by most sensible men as 
a plausible but untenable idea. The thinker who did more than 
any other to supply the facts, and to put the theory, so far as it 
relates to natural history, on a solid and lasting foundation, was 
the distinguished EngUsh naturalist, Charles Darwin.^ At his 
death (1882) he found an honored resting-place in Westminster 
Abbey, near the graves of the well-known geologist. Sir Charles 
Lyell, and Livingstone, the African explorer. 

On his return (1837) from a voyage of scientific discovery 
round the world, Darwin began to examine and classify the facts 
which he had collected, and continued to collect, relating to nat- 
ural history. After twenty-two years of uninterrupted labor he 
published a work ("The Origin of Species") (1859), in which he j 

1 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxvii, § 33. ^ 

2 Alfred Russel Wallace, also noted as a naturalist, worked out the theory of 
evolution by "natural selection" about the same time, though not so fully, with 
respect to details, as Darwin ; as each of these investigators arrived at his conclusions 
independently of the other, the theory was thus doubly confirmed. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 39I 

aimed to show that animal Hfe owes its course of development to 
the struggle for existence and "the survival of the fittest." 

Darwin's work may truthfully be said to have wrought a revo- 
lution in the study of nature as great as that accomplished by 
Newton in the seventeenth century (§ 533). Though calling 
forth the most heated and prolonged discussion, the Darwinian 
theory has gradually made its way, and is now generally received, 
though sometimes in a modified form, by nearly every eminent 
man of science throughout the world. 

A little later than the date at which Mr. Darwin began his 
researches, Sir William Grove, an eminent electrician, commenced 
a series of experiments which have led to a great change in our 
conceptions of matter and force. He showed that heat, light, and 
electricity are mutually convertible ; that they must be regarded 
as modes of motion ; and, finally, that all force is persistent and 
indestructible,^ thus proving, as Professor Tyndall says, that " to 
nature, nothing can be added ; from nature, nothing can be taken 
away." Together, these, with kindred discoveries, have resulted 
in the theory of evolution, or development, which Herbert 
Spencer and others have endeavored to make the basis of a system 
of philosophy embracing the whole field of nature and life^ 

In literature so many names of note are found that the mere 
enumeration of them would be impracticable here. It will be suf- 
ficient to mention the novelists, Dickens, Thackeray, Bronte, and 
" George Eliot " ; the historians, Stubbs, Hallam, Arnold, Grote, 
Macaulay, Alison, Buckle, Froude, Freeman, and Gardiner; the 
essayists, Carlyle, Landor, and De Quincey ; the poets, Browning 
and Tennyson; the philosophical writers, Hamilton, Mill, and 
Spencer; with Lyell, Faraday, Carpenter, Tyndall, Huxley, Dar- 
win, Wallace, and Lord Kelvin in science ; John Ruskin, the 
eminent art-critic ; and in addition, the chief artists of the period, 
Millais, Rossetti, Burne -Jones, Watts, and Hunt. 

646. The Queen's Jubilee (1887), and her '' Diamond Jubilee " 
(1897); Review of Sixty Years of English History (1837-1897). 
^ — In the summer of 1887 Queen Victoria celebrated the fiftieth 

1 See An Essay on the Correlation of Physical Forces, by W. R. Grove. 



392 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

year of her reign; ten years later (June 22, 1897) the nation 
spontaneously rose to do honor to her "Diamond Jubilee." The 
splendid military pageant which marked that event in London 
was far more than a brilliant show, for it demonstrated the 
enthusiastic loyalty of the EngHsh people and of the English 
colonies. 

The real meaning of the occasion is best sought in a review 
of the record of the past threescore years. They have been, 
in large degree, a period of progress ; perhaps, in fact, no sim- 
ilar period in European history has been so "crowded with 
benefit to humanity." 

When Victoria came to the throne in her nineteenth year 
(1837) she found the kingdom seething with discontent, and the 
province of Canada approaching rebellion. In business circles 
reckless speculation and the bursting of "Bubble Companies" 
had been followed by " tight money " and " hard times." Among 
the poor matters were far worse. Wages were low, work was 
scarce, bread was dear. In the cities half-fed multitudes lived 
in cellars; in the country the same class occupied wretched 
cottages hardly better than cellars.^ 

The " New Poor Law " (§455),^ which had recently gone into 
effect (1834), eventually accomplished much good; but for a 
time it forced many laborers into the workhouse. This result 

1 See Cobbett's Rural Rides, 1821-1832. 

2 The "New Poor Law" (§455) : between 1691 and 1834 the administration of 
relief for the poor was in the hands of justices of the peace, who gave aid indiscrimi- 
nately to those who begged for it. In 1795 wages for ordinary laborers were so low 
that the justices resolved to grant an allowance -to every poor family in accordance 
with its numbers. The result of this mistaken kindness was speedily seen ; employ- 
ers cut down wages to the starvation point, knowing that the magistrates would give 
help out of the poor fund. The consequence was that the tax rate for relief of the 
poor rose to a degree that became unbearable. 

The "New Poor Law" of 1834 effected a sweeping reform: i. It forbade outdoor 
relief to the able-bodied poor, and thus, in the end, compelled the employer to give 
better wages (but outdoor relief. is now frequently granted). 2. It restricted aid to that 
given in workhouses, where the recipient, if in good health, was obUged to labor in 
return for what he received. 3. It greatly reduced the expense of supporting the 
poor by uniting parishes in workhouse " unions." 4. It modified the old rigid Law 
of Settlement, thereby making it possible for those seeking employment to take their 
labor to the best market. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 393 

aggravated the suffering and discontent, and the predominant 
feeHng of the day may be seen reflected in the pages of Dickens, 
Kingsley, and Carlyle.^ 

Notwithstanding the passage of the Reform Bill (1832) (§ 625), 
pohtical power was still held chiefly by men of property who 
distrusted the masses of the people. They feared that the 
widespread distress would culminate in riots, if not in open 
insurrection. 

The Chartist movement (§ 634), which speedily began (1838), 
seemed to justify their apprehension. But the dreaded revolt 
never came ; the evils of the times were gradually alleviated and, 
in some cases, cured. Confidence slowly took the place of dis- 
trust and fear. When, in June, 1897, the Queen's "Diamond 
Jubilee'" procession moved from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's, 
and thence through one of the poorest quarters of London, none 
of the dense mass that filled the streets cheered more lustily than 
those who must always earn their daily bread by their daily toil. 

The explanation of this man^ellous change is to be found in 
the progress of good government, the extension of popular rights, 
and the advance of material improvements. Let us consider 
these changes in their natural order. 

647. The Broadening of the Basis of Suffrage (1832-1894).^ — 
We have already described the far-reaching effects of the Reform 
Bin (§ 625) of 1832, which granted representation in Parliament 
to a number of large towns hitherto mthout a voice in the National 
Legislature. Three years later (1835) came the Municipal Reform 
Act. It placed the government of towns, with the exception of 
London,^ in the hands of the tax-payers who lived in them. 

This radical measure put a stop to the arbitrary and corrupt 

1 See Dickens' Oliver Twist (1838) ; Carlyle's Chartism (1839) ; and Kingsley's 
Yeast, and Alton Locke (1849). 

2 See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, page xxvi, § 31. 

3 London proper, a district covering about a square mile, and once enclosed by 
walls, is still governed by a lord mayor, court of aldermen, and a common council 
elected mainly by members of the " city " companies, representing the mediaeval trade 
guilds (§ 326). The metropolis outside the " city " is governed by the London County 
Council and by the Vestries or Parish Coimcils, elected by the men and women 
residing in the parishes. 



394 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

management which had existed when the town officers elected 
themselves and held their positions for life (§ 640). Further- 
more, it prevented parhamentary candidates from buying up the 
entire municipal vote, — a thing which frequently happened so 
long as the towns were under the absolute control of a few 
individuals. 

A generation passed before the next important step was taken. 
Then, as we have seen, the enactment of the Second Reform 
Bill (1867) (§ 640) doubled the number of voters in England. 
The next year an act reduced the property qualification for 
suffrage in Scotland and Ireland; thus the ballot was largely 
increased throughout the United Kingdom. 

The Third Reform Act (1884) (§ 640) granted the right of 
suffrage to more than two milHon persons, chiefly of the agri- 
cultural and laboring classes. Since that date, whether the 
Liberals or the Conservatives ^ have been in power, " the 
country," as Professor Gardiner says, "has been under demo- 
cratic influence." 

But though these acts wrought an immense change by trans- 
ferring political power from the hands of the few to the nation at 
large, further progress in this direction was destined to come 
soon. Originally the government of the shires, or counties, was 
in the hands of the people ; they gradually lost it, and the wealthy 
landed proprietors obtained control. The Local Government, 
or County Councils, Act (1888) restored the power in great 
measure to those who had parted with it, by putting the manage- 
ment of county affairs under the direction of a council elected 
by the householders of the shire. This council looks after the 
highways, the sanitary condition of towns, the education of 
children, and the care of the poor. 

Six years later (1894) the principle of self-government was 
carried almost to the farthest point by the passage of the Parish 
Councils Bill. This did for small local populations what the 

1 In 1832 the Whigs (§531), who were divided into a moderate and a radical fac- 
tion, took the name of Liberals, and the Tories (§ 531), who found their old name 
unpopular, adopted that of Conservatives. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 395 

Local Government Act did for the counties. It gave back 
to them certain rights which they once possessed, but which 
had been usurped by the squire, the parson, and a few privileged 
families. 

Now every man and woman who has resided in the parish for 
a twelvemonth has the right, not only to vote for the members of 
the Parish Council, but to run as candidate for election to that 
body. This village parliament discusses all questions which are 
of public interest to the parish. It is in some respects more 
democratic even than a New England town-meeting, since it 
gives woman a voice, a vote, and opportunity to hold office. 
Its work supplements that of the County Council and the 
National Parliament. 

648. -Overthrow of the "Spoils System"; the Army; the 
"Secret Ballot" (1870-1872). — Meanwhile reforms not less 
important had been effected in the management of the civil 
service. The ancient power of the Crown to give fat pensions to 
its favorites had been pared down to the most modest propor- 
tions, but another great abuse still flourished like an evil weed 
in a rich soil. 

For generations public offices had been regarded as public 
plunder, and the watchword of the politicians was, " Every man 
for himself, and the National Treasury for us all." Under this 
system of pillage the successful party in an election came down 
like a flock of vultures after a battle. They secured all the 
"spoils," from petty clerkships worth ^100 a year up to places 
worth thousands. 

About the middle of the century (1855) an effort was made to 
break up this corrupt and corrupting custom, but the real work 
was not accompHshed until 1870. In that year England threw 
open the majority of the positions in the civfl service to competi- 
tive examination. Henceforth the poorest day-laborer, whether 
man or woman, might, if competent, ask for any one of many 
places which formerly some political "boss " reserved as gifts for 
those who had obeyed his commands. 

The next year (187 1) the purchase of commissions in the 



39^ LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

army was abolished.^ This established the merit system in 
the ranks, and now military honors and military offices are open 
to all who can earn them. 

The Registration xA.ct (1843) suppressed election frauds to a 
large extent. It was supplemented (1872) by the introduction 
of the " secret ballot " (§ 634).^ This did away with the intimida- 
tion of voters and put an end to the free fights and riots which 
had so frequently made the polls a political pandemonium. 

649. Reforms in Law Procedures and the Administration of 
Justice ; Treatment of the Insane. — Since the late Queen's acces- 
sion great changes for the better have been effected in simplifying 
the laws and in the administration of justice. When she came to 
the throne the Parliamentary Statutes at Large filled fifty-five 
huge folio volumes, and the Common Law, as contained in 
judicial decisions, dating from the time of Edward II (1307), 
filled about twelve hundred more. The work of examining, 
digesting, and consolidating this enormous mass of legislative 
and legal lore was taken in hand (1863) and has been happily 
progressing ever since. 

The Judicature Acts (1873, i^77) united the chief courts 
in a single High Court of Justice. This reform did away with 
much confusion and expense. But the most striking changes for 
the better have been those made in the Court of Chancery 
(§ 195) and the criminal courts. 

In 1825 the property belonging to suitors in the former court 
amounted to nearly forty millions of pounds.^ The simplest case 
required a dozen years for its settlement, while difficult ones con- 
sumed a lifetime, or more, and were handed down from father to 
son, — a legacy of baffled hopes, of increasing expense, of mental 
suffering worse than that of hereditary disease. 

Much has been done to remedy these evils, which Dickens set 
forth with such power in his novel of " Bleak House." At one 

1 Up to 1871 an officer retiring from the army could sell his commission to any 
ofificer next below him in rank who had the money to buy the position ; whereas 
under the present system the vacancy would necessarily fall to senior officers in the 
line of promotion. 2 jhe Bribery Act of 1883 was another important measure. 

3 See Walpole's History of England, Vol. III. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 397 

time they seemed so utterly hopeless that it was customary for a 
prize-fighter, when he had got his opponent's neck twisted under 
his arm, and held him absolutely helpless, to declare that he had 
his head "in chancery" ! 

In criminal courts an equal reform has taken place, and men 
accused of burglary and murder are now allowed to have counsel 
to defend them ; whereas, up to the era of the coronation of 
Victoria, they were obliged to plead their own cases as best 
they might against skilled public prosecutors, who used every 
resource known to the law to convict them. 

Great changes for the better have also taken place in the treat- 
ment of the insane. Until near the close of the last century, this 
unfortunate class was quite generally regarded as possessed by 
demons, and dealt with accordingly. William Tuke, a member 
of the Society of Friends, inaugurated a better system (1792) ; 
but the old method continued for many years longer. In fact, 
we have the highest authority for saying that down to a late 
period in the present century the inmates of many asylums were 
worse off than the most desperate criminals. 

They were shut up in dark, and often iilthy, cells, where " they 
were chained to the wall, flogged, starved, and not infrequently 
killed." ^ Since then, all mechanical restraints have, as a rule, 
been abolished, and the patients are generally treated with the 
care and kindness which their condition demands. 

650. Progress in the Education of the Masses; the Universi- 
ties; Religious Toleration. — Since 1837 the advance in popular 
education has equalled that made in the extension of suffrage and 
in civil-service reform. When Victoria began hen reign a very 
large proportion of the children of the poor were growing up in a 
state of barbarism. Practically they knew little more of books 
or schools than the young Hottentots of South Africa. 

The marriage register shows that as late as 1 840 forty per cent 
of the Queen's adult subjects could not write their names in the 
book; by the close of her reign (1901) the number who had to 
"make their mark" in that interesting volume was only about 

1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., " Insanity." 



398 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

one in ten. This proves, as Lord Brougham said, that "the 
schoohnaster " has been "abroad" in the land. 

The national system of education began, 1870, with the open- 
ing of what are popularly known as the " Board Schools " (§641). 
Later, the Assisted Education Act (1891) made provision for 
those who had not means to pay even a few pence a week for 
instruction. This law puts the key of knowledge within reach of 
every child in England, so that elementary education there is 
now as free to the poor as it is in the United States. 

The universities have felt the new impulse. The abolition of 
religious tests for degrees at Oxford and Cambridge (187 1) threw 
open the doors of those venerable seats of learning to students of 
every faith (§ 641). Since then colleges for women have been 
established at Oxford and in the vicinity of Cambridge, and 
the "university extension" examinations, with "college settle- 
ments " in London and other large cities, have long been doing 
excellent work. 

The religious toleration granted in the universities was in 
accord with the general movement of the age. It will be remem- 
bered that the Catholics were admitted to sit in Parliament 
(§ 618) late in the reign of George IV (1829), and that under 
Victoria the Jews were admitted (1858) to the same right (§ 640). 
Finally, Mr. Bradlaugh carried his "Oaths Bill" through Parlia- 
ment (1888), and so opened the National Legislature to persons, 
not only of all religious beliefs, but of none. 

In the meantime the compulsory payment of rates for the 
support of the Church of England had been abolished (1868) 
(§ 641) ; and the next year (1869) was made memorable by the 
just and generous act by which Mr. Gladstone disestablished the 
Irish branch of the English Church (§ 641). 

651. Transportation and Communication. — When the Queen 
ascended the throne, the locomotive (§ 627) was threatening to 
supersede the stage coach ; but the progress of steam as a motor 
power on land had not been rapid, and England then had less 
than two hundred miles of railway open ; ^ there are now about 

i A part of what is now the London and Northwestern Railway. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 399 

twenty-two thousand. The passenger accommodation was lim- 
ited. Those who could indulge in such luxuries sometimes pre- 
ferred to travel in their own private carriages placed on platform 
cars for transportation. For those who took first-class tickets 
there were excellent and roomy compartments at very high prices. 
The second-class fared tolerably well, but the unfortunate third- 
class were crowded Hke cattle into open trucks, without seats, and 
with no roofs to keep the rain out. All this has changed, and 
the workingman can now fly through the country at the rate 
of fifty miles an hour, for a penny a mile, and can have all the 
comforts that a reasonable being should ask for. 

Cheap postage (§ 633) came in (1840) with the extension of 
railways. Every letter, for the first time, carried on it a stamp 
bearing a portrait of the young Queen, and in this way the 
English people came to know her better than they had ever 
known any preceding sovereign. 

Half a dozen years later the telegraph made instantaneous 
communication possible. The Government now owns all the lines, 
and by the outlay of sixpence one can send a brief despatch to 
any part of the United Kingdom. 

652. Light in Dark Places ; Photography ; Ether and the New 
Surgery (i 834-1 847). — The invention of the friction match 
(1834) (§ 627), the abohtion of the tax on windows (185 1) 
(§ 637), with the introduction of American petroleum, speedily 
dispelled the almost subterraneous gloom of the laborer's cottage. 
Meanwhile photography had revealed the astonishing fact that 
the sun is always ready, not only to make a picture, but to take 
one, and that nothing is so humble as to be beneath his notice. 

News came across the Atlantic from Boston (1846) that 
Dr. Morton had rendered surgery painless by the use of ether. 
Before a year passed the English hospitals were employing the 
anaesthetic. Sir James Y. Simpson introduced chloroform (1847). 
They have abohshed the terror of the surgeon's knife, and have 
lengthened hfe by making it possible to perform a class of 
operations which few patients had been able to bear. 

A score of years later Sir Joseph Lister called attention to 



400 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

antiseptic methods in surgery. They have suggested precautions, 

formerly unknown, by which multitudes of lives have been saved. 

653. Progress of the Laboring Classes; Free Trade. — At the 

date of the Queen's accession an enormous mass of laws existed 
restricting trade and the free action of workingmen. Only three 
years before Victoria's coronation six poor agricultural laborers in 
Dorsetshire were transported (1834) to penal servitude at Botany 
Bay, Australia, for seven years, for peacefully combining to secure 
an increase of their miserable wages of six shillings a week. In 
fact, the so-called " Conspiracy Laws," which made labor unions 
liable to prosecution, were not wholly repealed until the nine- 
teenth century was far advanced. 

Then (1871-1876) the Trades Union Acts recognized the 
right of workingmen to form associations to protect their interests 
by the use of all lawful measures.-*^ Since that time trades unions 
have gained very largely in numbers and financial strength. In 
many ways, in connection with the Cooperative Societies and 
Stores, they have accomplished great good. 

They will accomplish more still if they succeed in teaching their 
members to study the condition of industry in England, to respect 
the action of those workers who do not join associations, and to 
see clearly that " if men have a right to combine," they must also 
"have an equal right to refuse to combine." 

In 1837 the English Corn Laws (§ 635) virtually shut out the 
importation of grain from foreign countries. The population had 
outgrown its food supply, and bread was so dear that even the 
agricultural laborer cried out. "I be protected," said he, "but 
I be starving." The long and bitter fight against the Corn 
Laws resulted not only in their gradual abolition (1846), but in 
the opening of English ports to the products and manufactures of 
the world. With the exception of tobacco, wines, spirits, and a 
few other articles, all imports enter the kingdom free. 

But though Great Britain carries out Peel's theory, — that it is 

1 One result of the trades unions has been the shortening of the hours of labor. 
In 1894 the Government announced an eight-hour day for workingmen in dockyards 
and in ordnance factories. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 4OI 

better to make things cheap for the sake of those who buy them, 
rather than dear for the sake of those who produce them, — yet 
all of the English colonies, with the exception of New South 
Wales, impose protective duties even against British products. 
One of the interesting questions suggested by the Queen's 
"Diamond Jubilee" (1897) (§ 646) was whether England's chil- 
dren in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada would take any 
steps toward forming a commercial free-trade union with the 
mother-country. 

654. The Small Agricultural Holdings Act ; the Agricultural 
Outlook. — Through the influence of the greatly increased popular 
vote, which resulted from the Third Reform Act (§ 647), the farm 
laborers made themselves felt in the House of Commons. They 
secured the passage of the Small Agricultural Holdings Act (1892). 
This gave those who worked on the land the privilege of pur- 
chasing from one to fifty acres, or of taking it on lease if they 
preferred.^ But, notwithstanding the relief granted by this meas- 
ure, the agricultural problem is to-day one of the most serious 
England has to solve. Just a^ New England now depends in 
large measure on the West for its food, supply, so Great Britain 
depends on America for breadstuffs. Thousands of acres of 
fertile soil have gone out of cultivation in the eastern half of the 
island, partly because of bad harvests, but mainly because the 
farmers cannot compete with foreign wheat. 

The Royal Agricultural Commission in its report a few years 
ago (1897) could suggest no remedy, and beheved matters must 
grow worse. A leading English journal,^ in commenting on the 
report, said, "The sad and sober fact is that the English farmer's 
occupation is gone, or nearly gone, never to return." 

The depression has ruined many tillers of the soil, and has 
driven the rural population more and more into the already 
overcrowded towns. There they bid against the laboring men 

1 The Small Agricultural Holdings Act enables the County Council (§ 640) to 
acquire, by voluntary arrangement, suitable land for the purpose of reletting or 
reselling it to agricultural laborers and men of small means. Under certain safe- 
guards the Council may advance up to three-fourths of the purchase money. 

2 The Bristol Times and Mirror, Aug. 5, 1897. 



402 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

for work, and so reduce wages to the lowest point. If they fail 
to get work, they become an added burden on the poor rates, 
and taxes rise accordingly. 

Should no remedy be found, and should land continue to go 
out of cultivation, it is difficult to see how the majority of proprie- 
tors can resist the temptation to break up and sell their estates. 
The tendency of the Consolidated Death Duties Act (1894) is 
beUeved by many to work in the same direction. It imposes 
an inheritance tax on the heirs to landed property, which they 
find it hard to meet, especially when their tenants have abandoned 
their farms rather than try to pay the rent. 

To-day a few thousand wealthy families hold the title-deeds to 
the soil on which more than thirty millions live. Generally speak- 
ing, the rent they demand does not seem to be excessive.-^ It is 
an open question whether England would be the gainer if, as in 
France, the land should be cut up into small holdings, worked 
by men without capital, and hence without power to make 
improvements. 

655 . The Colonial Expansion of England. — Meanwhile, whether 
from an economic point of view England is gaining or losing 
at home, there can be no question as to her colonial expansion. 
A glance at the accompanying maps of the world ^ in 1837 and 
in 1897 shows the marvellous territorial growth of the British 
Empire. 

When Victoria was crowned it had an area of less than three 
million square miles ; to-day it has over eleven million or more 
than one-fifth of the entire land surface of the globe. This shows 
that England added, on the average, more than one hundred and 
forty-five thousand square miles of territory every year of the late 
Queen's reign. 

Australia began its career (1837) as a penal colony with a few 
shiploads of convicts ; now it is a prosperous, powerful, and loyal 
part of the Empire (§ 594). Sixty years ago New Zealand was a 

1 This is the opinion of the Royal Commission ; but Gibbins' Industry in Eng- 
land (1896), page 441, takes the opposite view. 

2 See Maps Nos. 19 and 20, facing pages 400 and 402. 



j^^n/ 




1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 403 

mission-field where cannibalism still existed ; now it is one of the 
leaders in English civilization. 

Again, when Victoria came to the throne (1837) the greater 
part of Africa was simply a geographical expression ; the coast 
had been explored, but most of the interior was miknown. 
Through the efforts of Livingstone and those who followed him 
(1840- 1 890), the interior was explored and the source of the 
Nile was discovered (1863). Stanley succeeded in his great work 
on the Congo River, and the " dark continent " ceased to be 
dark. Trade was opened with the interior ; the discovery of 
diamond mines and gold mines in South Africa (1867, 1884) 
stimulated emigration. Railroads are now being pushed forward, 
new markets are springing up, and Africa, once the puzzle of the 
worlds seems destined to become one of the great fields which 
the Anglo-Saxon race is determined to control, if not to possess. 

On the other hand, the British West Indies have of late years 
greatly decHned from their former prosperity. The English 
demand for cheap sugar has encouraged the importation of beet- 
root sugar from Germany and France. This has reduced the 
market for cane sugar to so low a point that there is little, if any, 
profit in raising it in the West Indies.-^ 

656. England's Change of Feeling toward her Colonies; Ireland; 
the Policy of Justice ; Arbitration vs. War. — One of the most 
striking features of the '^ Diamond Jubilee " celebration (§ 646) 
was the prominence given to the Colonial Prime Ministers. Less 
than half a century ago the men who governed England regarded 
Canada and Australia as "a source of weakness," and the Colonial 
Office in London knew so httle of the latter country that it made 
ridiculous blunders in attempting to address official despatches 
to Melbourne, Australia.^ Even as late as 1852 DisraeH, then 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote to Lord Malmesbury in 
regard to the Newfoundland fisheries, "These wretched colonies 
will all be independent, too, in a few years, and are a millstone 
around our necks." 

1 See Brooks Adams' America's Economic Supremacy. 

2 Traill's Social England, VI, 684. 



404 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

Twenty years afterward Disraeli, later Lord Beaconsfield, 
declared that one of the great objects he and his party had in 
view was to uphold the British Empire and to do everything 
to maintain its unity. That feeling has steadily gained in 
power and was never stronger than it is to-day. If the colo- 
nies respond by actions as well as words, "Imperial Federation" 
will soon become something more than a high-sounding phrase. 

But to make such federation harmonious and complete the 
support of Ireland must be obtained. That country is the only 
member of the United Kingdom whose representatives in Par- 
liament refused, as a rule, to take part in the celebration of 
the Queen's reign. They felt that their island had never been 
placed on a true equality with its stronger and more prosperous 
neighbor. 

In fact, the Royal Commission, appointed to inquire into 
the relative taxation of England and Ireland, reported (1897) 
nearly unanimously that " for a great many years Ireland had 
paid annually more than ;^2, 000,000 beyond her just propor- 
tion of taxation." ^ It has been estimated that the total excess 
thus extorted during the Queen's reign amounts to nearly 
;^i 00,000,000. 

In 1893 Mr. Gladstone made a vigorous effort to secure 
" Home Rule " for Ireland. His bill granting that country an 
independent Parliament passed the House of Commons by a very 
large majority, but was utterly defeated by the Lords. In 1898 
Mr. Balfour succeeded in passing a bill which gave Ireland local 
government on the same popular foundation on which it rests in 
England (§ 647) and Scotland. 

The recognition of the principle of international arbitration by 
England in the Alabama case (§ 639), in the Behring Sea Seal 
Fisheries dispute (1893), and in the Venezuela boundary contro- 
versy (1896), shows that the English people see that the victories 
of peace are worth as much to a nation as the victories of war. 
The Hague Peace Conference Treaty, ratified by Great Britain 
(1899), provided for the establishment of a permanent Court of 

1 McCarthy's History of Our Own Times, V, 487. 




GLADSTONE SPEAKING IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS (on his Introduction 
of the Home Rule Bill for Ireland, Feb. 13, 1893) 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 405 

Arbitration between the leading nations of Europe, the United 
States, China, and Japan. 

Sixty years ago such a court would have been thought to be 
impossible ; to-day it has the support of the ablest men on both 
sides of the Atlantic. It is a pity that it could not have exercised 
its influence to prevent the terrible South African war. But, none 
the less, it holds forth promise of good in the future. 

657. Death of Gladstone ; the Cabot Tower ; Centennial of the 
First Savings-Bank. — Meanwhile, Mr. Gladstone died full of years 
and honors at his residence, Hawarden Castle,^ North Wales (i 898). 
The " Grand Old Man " — as his friends delighted to call him — 
was buried in that Abbey at Westminster which holds so much of 
England's most precious dust. His grave is not far from the memo- 
rial to Dord Beaconsfield, his lifelong rival and political opponent. 

In the autumn (1898) the Cabot monument was opened at 
Bristol. It is a commanding tower, overlooking the ancient city 
and port from which John Cabot (§ 387) sailed in the spring of 
1497. The monument commemorates Cabot's discovery of the 
mainland of the new world. An inscription on one of the walls 
of the tower expresses " the earnest hope that Peace and Friend- 
ship may ever continue between the kindred peoples" of England 
and America. 

In May of the next year (1899) the one hundredth anniversary 
of the establishment of savings-banks in Great Britain was cele- 
brated. Near the closing year of the eighteenth century (1799), 
Rev. Joseph Smith, Vicar of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, in- 
vited the laborers of his parish to deposit their savings with him 
on interest. 

"Upon the first day of the week," said he, quoting St. Paul's 
injunction, " let every one of you lay by him in store." ^ He 
offered to receive sums as small as twopence. Before the end of 
the year he had sixty depositors. Eventually the Government 
took up the scheme and established the present system of national 
savings-banks. 

1 Hawarden (Har'den). 

2 The quotation is from i Corinthians, xvi, 2. 



406 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

They have done and are doing incalculable good. To-day there 
are nearly nine million depositors in the United Kingdom. Most 
of them belong to the wage-earning class, and they hold not far 
from ;^2 00,000,000. In this case certainly the grain of mustard 
seed, sown a century ago, has produced a mighty harvest. 

658. England in Egypt ; Gordon ; Omdurman ; Progress in 
Africa. — Meanwhile, the English had been busy outside of their 
island. Five years after the opening of the Suez Canal (1869), 
Lord Beaconsfield,^ then Prime Minister, bought nearly half of 
the canal property from the Governor of Egypt. From that time 
England kept her hand on the country of the Pharaohs and the 
pyramids. 

About ten years later (1881) Arabi Pasha,^ an ambitious 
colonel in the native army, raised the cry, " Down with all 
foreigners — Egypt for the Egyptians ! " Lord Wolseley ^ defeated 
Arabi' s forces, and he was banished from the country. 

Two years afterward (1883) a still more formidable rebellion 
broke out in the Soudan, — a province held by Egypt. The 
leader of the insurrection styled himself the Mahdi,^ or great 
Mohammedan Prophet. Then (1884) Gladstone sent General 
Gordon, commonly called " Chinese Gordon," ^ to withdraw the 
Egyptian troops from Khartoum, the capital of the Soudan. The 
Mahdi's forces shut up the heroic soldier in that city, and before 
help could reach him he and all his Egyptian troops were mas- 
sacred. No braver or truer man ever died at the post of duty, 
for in him was fulfilled Wordsworth's eloquent tribute to the 
" Happy Warrior." ^ 

Lord Kitchener advanced (1896) against Omdurman, the 
headquarters of the new Mahdi. In a decisive victory (1898) 
he scattered the fanatical Dervishes, or Mohammedan monks, 
like chaff before a whirlwind. He then took possession of 

1 Beaconsfield (Bek'ons-field). 2 Arabi Pasha (A-ra''bee Pah-shaw'). 

3 Wolseley (Wools'ly). 4 Mahdi (Mah'dee). 

5 So called because of his military career in China (1862), where as com- 
mander of the " Ever-Victorious Army," and supported by the Chinese Government, 

' he suppressed the formidable Tai-Ping rebellion. 

6 See Wordsworth's Poems, " The Happy Warrior." 




20 Long. 10 West 



10 Long. 20 E. from 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 407 

Khartoum (opposite Omdurman) and held religious services 
on the spot where Gordon fell, — now marked by a Memorial 
College. The next autumn (1899) the British overtook the 
fugitive leader of the Dervishes and annihilated his army.^ 

British enterprise, British capital, and American inventive skill 
are transforming Egypt. When the new dam across the Nile is 
completed, the water supply can be regulated in large measure. 
The creation of this enormous reservoir promises to make 
the Nile Valley one of the richest cotton-producing regions in 
the world. 

The "Cape to Cairo" railway, which is nearly half finished, 
is another undertaking of immense importance. When ready 
for traffic, through its whole length of over fifty-six hundred 
miles7 it v/ill open all Eastern Africa, from the Cape of Good 
Hope to the Mediterranean, to the spread of commerce and 
civilization. 

659. The Boer Republics ; the Boer War ; Death of the Queen; 
King Edward VII (1901). — The history of the British in South 
Africa has been even more tragic than their progress in Egypt. 

In the middle of the seventeenth century (1652) the Dutch 
took possession of Cape Colony. Many Boers,^ or Dutch farmers, 
and cattle raisers emigrated to that far-distant land. There they 
were joined by Huguenots ^ driven out of France. All of them 
became slaveholders. Early in the nineteenth century (18 14) 
England purchased the Cape from Holland. Twenty years later 
the English Parliament bought all the negroes held by the Boers 
and set them free. 

Eight thousand Boers, disgusted with the loss of their slaves 
and with the small price they had received for them, left the 
Cape (1836) and pushed far northward into the wilderness. 
Crossing the Orange River, they founded the "Orange Free 
State." Another party of Boers, going still further north, crossed 
the Vaal River (a tributary of the Orange) and set up the 

i See Map No. 21, facing page 406. 2 Boers (Boors). 

3 Huguenots (Hue'ge-nots) : French Protestants who fled from France to escape 
the persecution of Louis XIV. See Montgomery's Leading Facts of French History. 



408 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1837-1901 

Transvaal/ or "South African Republic," on what was practically 
a slaveholding foundation. Later (1852) England, by a treaty 
known as the Sand River Convention, virtually recognized the 
independence of the settlers in the Transvaal, and two years after- 
ward made a still more explicit recognition of the independence 
of the Orange Free State. 

The Zulus ^ and other fierce native tribes bordering on the 
Transvaal hated the Boers and threatened to " eat " them up. 
Later (1877), England thought it for her interest, and for that of 
the Boers as well, to annex the Transvaal. The English Governor 
did not grant the Boers the measure of poHtical liberty which he 
had promised ; this led to a revolt, and a small body of English 
soldiers were beaten at Majuba Hill (1881). 

Gladstone did not think that the conquest of the Transvaal, 
supposing it to be justifiable, would pay for its cost, and he 
accordingly made a treaty with the people of that country (1881). 
Beaconsfield thought this policy a serious mistake, and that it 
would lead to trouble later on. He said, "We have failed to 
whip the boy, and we shall have to fight the man." The Glad- 
stone Treaty acknowledged the right of the Boers to govern them- 
selves, but subject to EngHsh control. Three years later (1884) 
that treaty was modified. The Boers declared that the English 
then gave up all control over them, except with regard to the power 
to make treaties which might conflict with the interests of Great 
Britain. But this the English Government emphatically denied.^ 

The discovery of diamond fields in Cape Colony (1867) and 
of the richest gold mines in the world (1884) in the Transvaal 
stimulated a great emigration of English to South Africa. In a 
few years the "Outlanders" — as the Boers call all foreigners — 

1 Transvaal (Trans-vahF). 2 Zulus (Zoo'looze). 

3 The preamble of the Convention or agreement made in 1881 at Pretoria, the 
capital of the Transvaal, secured to the Boers " complete self-government, subject to 
the suzerainty of Her Majesty," Queen Victoria. In the Convention of 1884, made 
at London, the word " suzerainty " was dropped ; but Mr. Chamberlain, Colonial 
Secretary of Great Britain, contended that it was implied or understood. This 
interpretation of the agreement President Kriiger of the South African Republic 
absolutely rejected. 



1837-1901] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 409 

outnumbered the Boers themselves. The " Outlanders," who 
worked the gold mines and paid nearly all the taxes, complained 
that the laws made by the Boers were unjust and oppressive. 
They demanded the right to vote. The Boers, on the other 
hand, refused to give the "Outlanders" the right, except under 
arduous restrictions, lest the foreigners should get the upper hand 
in the Transvaal Republic, and then manage it to suit themselves. 

Things went on from bad to worse. At length (1895) Dr. 
Jameson, a prominent Englishman of Cape Colony, armed a small 
body of " Outlanders," who undertook to get by force what they 
could not get by persuasion. 

The Boers captured the Revolutionists and compelled some 
of the leaders to pay, in all, about a million of dollars in fines. 
JamesMi was sent to England, there tried, and imprisoned for 
a short time. A committee appointed by Parliament investigated 
the invasion of the Transvaal and charged the Hon. Cecil J. 
Rhodes, then Prime Minister of Cape Colony, with having helped 
on the raid. 

From this time the feeling of hatred between the Boers and 
the "Outlanders" grew more and more intense. Finally the 
smouldering fires burst into flame, and the Transvaal and England 
resolved to fight. 

War began in the autumn of 1899, the Orange Free State 
uniting with the Transvaal against Great Britain.-^ The Boers 
took up arms for independence. The English forces under Lord 
Roberts began fighting, first in behalf of the " Outlanders," next to 
keep the British Empire together, and, finally, to extend EngHsh 
law, Hberty, and civilization as they understand them. 

Mr. Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary of Great Britain, said 
a few years ago that a war in South Africa would be " a long war, 
a bitter war, and a costly war." Events have proved the truth 
of part of his prediction. The contest has certainly been 
"bitter," for it has carried sorrow and death into many thousand 
homes. It has been " costly," too, for the expense to England is 
estimated at upwards of ;j^ 100,000,000. 

1 See Map No. 21, facing page 406. 



4IO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1901-] 

England has overthrown and formally annexed (1900) the two 
Boer republics, aggregating over one hundred and sixty-seven 
thousand square miles. But to accomplish that work she was 
forced to send two hundred and fifty thousand men to South 
Africa, — the largest army she ever put into the field in the whole 
course of her history. The great majority of the English people 
beheved that the war was inevitable. But there has been an 
active minority who have not hesitated to condemn the " Jingo " 
policy ^ of the Government as disastrous to the best interests of 
the country. In the midst of the discussion Queen Victoria died 
(Jan. 22, 1901). Grief and anxiety caused by the war probably 
hastened her end. The Prince of Wales succeeded to the crown 
under the title of King Edward VII. 

660. The Condition of the Mass of the English People To-day. 
— Since the accession of Victoria the condition of the great body 
of the English people has immensely improved. We no longer 
hear of workingmen and women stifling the pangs of hunger by 
the habitual use of opium, as thousands did at the beginning of 
the reign.^ Wages have risen, and hours of labor have been short- 
ened. On the other hand, England no longer enjoys the absolute 
commercial supremacy she once boasted ; ^ for in the production 

1 The nickname of "Jingo Party" or "Jingoism" originated during Beacons- 
field's ministry (1874-1880). He adopted the policy of extending the power of 
England at the expense of petty wars in South Africa and in Afghanistan, and he 
even threatened Russia. 

A popular music-hall song glorified Beaconsfield's aggressive attitude by 
declaring : — 

" We don't want to fight, but by Jingo, if we do. 
We 've got the ships, we 've got the men, 
We 've got the money, too." 

2 Ward's Reign of Queen Victoria, II, 51. 

3 England's Loss of Commercial Supremacy. — In 1865 Professor Jevonsof Eng- 
land predicted that the enormous output of coal and iron in the British Isles could 
not continue another century without such an enhancement in cost as would make 
it practically impossible for Great Britain to compete with the United States in the 
production of crude iron. The Right Honorable Leonard H. Courtney, in an address 
(1897) read before the Royal Statistical Society of London, showed that the produc- 
tion of pig iron in the United States exceeded that of England in the ratio of 6 to 5, 
while the American production of steel was double that of England, which now im- 
ports that metal to a considerable extent from us. The United States now disputes 




MEDALLION OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
(1837-1901) 



[I90I-] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 4I I 

of iron and steel (which rank at the head of all manufactures), 
she has fallen far behind the United States ; but she still remains 
one of the greatest industrial nations of the world. 

Not only has the average wealth of the country greatly in- 
creased, but deposits in savings-banks (§ 657) prove that the 
workingmen are laying away large sums which were formerly 
spent in drink. Statistics show that pauperism, drunkenness, and 
crime have materially diminished. 

On the other hand, free libraries, reading-rooms, and art gal- 
leries have been opened in all the large towns. Liverpool is no 
longer " that black spot on the Mersey " which its cellar popula- 
tion of forty thousand and its hideous slums, with a population of 
nearly seventy thousand more, once made it. 

SanrCary regulations, with house-to-house inspection, have done 
away with filth and disease, which were formerly accepted as a 
matter of course, and new safeguards now protect the health and 
life of classes of the population who were once simply miserable 
outcasts. 

Hospitals and charitable associations, with bands of trained 
nurses, provide for the sick and suffering poor. Prison discipline 
has ceased to be the terrible thing it was when Charles Reade 
wrote " Never too Late to Mend," and the convict in his cell no 
longer feels that he is utterly helpless and friendless. 

It is no exaggeration to say that the best men and the best 
minds in England, without distinction of rank or class, are now 
laboring for the advancement of the people. They see, what has 
never been so clearly seen before, that the nation is a unit, that 
the welfare of each depends ultimately on the welfare of all, and 
that the higher a man stands, and the greater his wealth and 
privileges, so much the more is he bound to extend a helping 
hand to those less favored than himself. 

The Sociahsts demand the abolition of private property in land 

England's exports of all kinds of iron and steel to neutral markets, and there are 
indications that America may soon outrival her in various other manufactured 
exports. Meanwhile, Americans are sending locomotives arid rails to South Africa 
and other English colonies, and in some cases even to England herself. 



412 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1901-] 

and the nationalizing, not only of the soil, but of all mines, rail- 
ways, water- works, and docks in the kingdom. Thus far, how- 
ever, they have shown no disposition to attain their objects 
by violent action. England, by nature conservative, is sloW to 
break the bond of historic continuity which connects her present 
with her past. 

"Do you think we shall ever have a second revolution? " the 
Duke of Wellington was once asked. "We may," answered the 
great general, "but if we do, it will come by act of Parliament." 
That reply probably expresses the general temper of the people, 
who believe that they can gain by the ballot more than they can 
by an appeal to force, knowing that theirs is 

" A land of settled government, 
A land of just and old renown, 
Where freedom broadens slowly down, 
From precedent to precedent." ^ 

661. General Summary of the Rise of the English People from 
the Earliest Period to the Present Time. — Such is the condition 
of England at the beginning of the twentieth century, and at 
the accession of King Edward VII. If we pause now and look 
back to the time when the island of Britain first became inhabited, 
we shall see the successive steps which have transformed a few 
thousand barbarians into a great and powerful empire.^ 

I. Judging from the remains of their flint implements and 
weapons (§§ 8-12), we have every reason to suppose that the 
original population of Britain was in no respect superior to the 
American Indians that Columbus found in the new world. They 
had the equahty which everywhere prevails among savages, where 
all are alike ignorant, alike poor, and alike miserable. The tribal 
unity which bound them together in hostile clans resembled that 
found among a pack of wolves or a herd of buffalo, — it was 
instinctive rather than intelligent, and sprang from necessity 
rather than from independent choice. Gradually these tribes 
learned to make tools and weapons of bronze (§ 18), and to some 

1 Tennyson's You Ask Me Why. 

2 See Map No. 20 (British Empire in 1901), facing page 402. 



[I90I-] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 413 

extent even of iron ; then they ceased the wandering Hfe of men 
who live by hunting and fishing, and began to cultivate the soil, 
raise herds of cattle, and live in rudely fortified towns. 

Such was their condition when Caesar invaded the island (§ 43), 
and when the power of Roman armies and Roman civilization 
reduced the aborigines to a state but little better than that of the 
most abject slavery (§ 60). When, after several centuries of 
occupation, the Roman power was withdrawn, we find that the 
race they had subjugated had gained nothing from their con- 
querors, but that, on the other hand, they had lost much of their 
native courage and manhood (§§ 66, 67). 

2. With the Saxon invasion the true history of the country 
may be said to begin (§§ 69, 70). The fierce blue-eyed German 
race, living on the shores of the Baltic and of the North Sea, 
brought with them a love of liberty and a power to defend it 
which even the Romans in their continental campaigns had 
not been able to subdue. They laid the foundations of a new 
nation ; their speech, their laws, their customs, became perma- 
nent, and by them the Britain of the Celts and the Romans was 
baptized with that name of England which it has ever since 
retained (§ 89). 

3. Five hundred years later came the Norman Conquest 
(§146). By it the Saxons were temporarily brought into 
subjection to a people who, though they spoke a different lan- 
guage, sprang originally from the same Germanic stock as 
themselves. 

This conquest introduced higher elements of civilization, the 
life of England was to a certain extent united with the broader 
and more cultivated life of the continent, and the feudal or mili- 
tary tenure of the land, which had begun among the Saxons, 
was fully organized and developed. At the same time the king 
became the real head of the government, which before was 
practically in the hands of the nobles, who threatened to split 
it up into a self-destructive anarchy (§ 172). 

The most striking feature of this period was the fact that 
political liberty depended wholly on possession of the soil. 



414 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1901-] 

The landless man was a slave or a serf; in either case, so far as 
the state was concerned, his rank was simply zero (§ 200). 
Above him there was, properly speaking, no EngUsh people ; 
that is, no great body of inhabitants united by common descent, 
by participation in the government, by common interests, by pride 
of nationality and love of country. 

On the contrary, there were only classes separated by strongly 
marked lines, — ranks of clergy, or ranks of nobles, with their 
dependents. Those who owned and ruled the country were 
Normans, speaking a different tongue from the Enghsh, and 
looking upon them with that contempt with which the victor 
regards the vanquished, while the Enghsh, only half conquered, 
returned the feeling with sullen hate. 

4.. The rise of the people was obscure and gradual. It began 
in the conflicts between the barons and the Crown (§224). In 
those contests both parties needed the help of the working 
classes. To get it each side made haste to grant some privilege 
to those whose assistance they required. 

Next, the foreign wars had no small influence, since friendly 
relations naturally sprang up between those who fought side by 
side, and the Saxon yeoman and the Norman knight henceforth 
felt that England was their common home, and that in her cause 
they must forget differences of rank and blood (§ 244). 

It was, however, in the provisions of the Great Charter that the 
people first gained legal recognition (§ 251). When the barons 
forced King John to issue that document, they found it expe- 
dient to protect the rights of all. For that reason, the great 
nobles and the clergy made common cause with peasants, 
tradesmen, and serfs. 

Finally, the rise of the free cities (§234) secured to their 
inhabitants many of the privileges of self-government, while the 
Wat Tyler insurrection of a later period (§ 302) led eventually 
to the emancipation of that numerous class which was bound to 
the soil. 

5. But the real unity of the people first showed itself unmis- 
takably in consequence of a new system of taxation, levied on 



[I90I-] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 415 

persons of small property as well as on the wealthy landholders. 
The moment the Government laid hands on the tradesman's and 
the laborer's pockets, they demanded to have a share in legisla- 
tion (§§ 265-269). Out of that demand sprang the House of 
Commons, a body, as its name implies, made up of representa- 
tives chosen mainly from the people and by the people. 

The great contest now was for the power to levy taxes : if 
the king could do it, he might take the subject's money when he 
pleased ; if Parliament alone had the control in this matter, then 
it would be as they pleased. Little by little not only did Parlia- 
ment obtain the coveted power, but that part of Parliament which 
directly represented the people got it, and it was finally settled 
that no tax could be demanded save by their vote (§§ 272, 295). 

This victory, however, was not gained except by a long and 
bitter conflict, in which sometimes one and sometimes the other 
of the contestants got the best of it, and in which also Jack Cade's 
insurrection in behalf of free elections had its full influence 

(§ 350). 

But though temporarily beaten, the people never quite gave up 
the struggle. "The murmuring Parliament of Mary became the 
grumbling Parliament of Elizabeth, and finally the rebellious and 
victorious Parliament of Charles I." Then the executioner's axe 
settled the question of who was to rule, and the people set up a 
short-lived but vigorous republic. 

6. Meanwhile, a great change had taken place in the condition 
of the aristocracy. The Wars of the Roses (§§ 351, 368) had 
destroyed the power of the Norman barons, and the Tudors — 
especially Henry VIH, by his action in suppressing the monas- 
teries, and granting the lands to his favorites — virtually created 
a new aristocracy, many of whom sprang from the ranks of the 
people (§ 404). 

Under Cromwell, a republic was nominally established, and the 
House of Lords temporarily abolished ; but all power was really 
in the hands of the army, with the Protector at its head (§§ 502- 
507). After the restoration of the monarchy (1660) (§ 519), the 
government of the country was carried on mainly by the two great 



4l6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1901-] 

political parties, the Whigs and the Tories (§ 531), representing 
the Cavaliers and Roundheads, or the aristocratic and people's 
parties of the civil war. 

With the flight of James II, the passage of the Bill of Rights 
and the Act of Settlement (§549), Parliament set aside the 
regular hereditary order of succession and established a new 
order, in which the sovereign was made dependent on the 
people for his right to rule. Next, the Mutiny Act (§ 548) put 
the power of the army practically into the hands of Parliament, 
which already held full control of the purse. 

The Toleration Act (§ 548) granted liberty of worship, and 
the abolition of the censorship of the press gave freedom to 
expression (§ 550). With the coming in of George I, the king 
ceased to appoint his Cabinet, leaving its formation to his Prime 
Minister (§ 583). Hereafter the Cabinet no longer met with the 
king, and the executive functions of the Government were con- 
ducted, to a constantly increasing extent, without his taking any 
active part in them. 

Still, though the people through Parliament claimed to rule, 
yet the great landholders, and especially the Whig nobility, held 
the chief power; the sovereign, it is true, no longer tried to 
govern in spite of Parliament, but by controlhng elections and 
legislation he managed to govern through it. 

7. With the invention of the steam engine, and the growth of 
great manufacturing towns in the central and northern counties 
of England, many thousands of the population were left without 
representation (§ 610). Their demands to have this inequality 
righted resulted in the Reform Bill of 1832 (§ 624), which broke 
up in great measure the poHtical monopoly hitherto enjoyed 
by the landholders and aristocracy, and distributed the power 
among the middle classes. 

The accession of Queen Victoria estabhshed the principle that 
the Cabinet should be held directly responsible to the majority of 
the House of Commons, and that they should not be appointed 
contrary to the wish, or dismissed contrary to the consent, of that 
majority (§ 630). 



[I90I-] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 417 

By the Reform Bills of 1867 and 1884, the suffrage was greatly 
extended (§ 640), so that, practically, the centre of poUtical gravity 
which was formerly among the wealthy and privileged classes, and 
which passed from them to the manufacturing and mercantile popu- 
lation, has shifted to the working classes, who now possess the 
balance of power in England almost as completely as they do in 
America. Thus we see that by gradual steps those who once had 
few or no rights have come to be the masters ; and though Eng- 
land continues to be a monarchy in name, yet she is well-nigh a 
republic in fact. 

In feudal times the motto of knighthood was Noblesse oblige^ 
— or, nobility of rank demands nobility of character. To-day 
the motto of every free nation should be. Liberty is Respon- 
sibility, for henceforth both in England and America the people 
who govern are bound, by their own history and their own 
declared principles, to use their opportunities to govern well. 

The danger of the past lay in the tyranny of the minority, that 
of the present is in the tyranny of the majority. The great 
problem of our time is to learn how to reconcile the interests of 
each with the welfare of all. To do that, whether on an island 
or on a continent, in England or in America, is to build up the 
kingdom of justice and good will upon the earth. 

662. Characteristics of English History; the Unity of the 
English-Speaking Race ; Conclusion. — This rapid and imperfect 
sketch shows what has been accomplished by the people of 
Britain, Other European peoples may have developed earlier, 
and made perhaps more rapid advances in certain forms of civih- 
zation, but none have surpassed, nay, none have equalled, the 
English-speaking race in the practical character and permanence 
of their progress. 

Guizot says^ the true order of national development in free 
government is, first, to convert the natural liberties of man into 
clearly defined pohtical rights ; and, next, to guarantee the secu- 
rity of those rights by the establishment of forces capable of 
maintaining them. 

1 Guizot's History of Representative Government, Lecture VI. 



4l8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1901-] 

Nowhere do we find better illustrations of this law of progress 
than in the history of England, and of the colonies which England 
has planted. For the fact cannot be too strongly emphasized that 
in European history England stands as the leader in the develop- 
ment of constitutional gove^mment (§§ 251, 549). Trial by jury 
(§227), the legal right to resist oppression (§ 313), legislative 
representation (§ 265), religious freedom (§548, and note 2), the 
freedom of the press (§ 550), and, finally, the principle that all 
poUtical power is a trust held for the public good,^ — these are the 
assured results of Anglo-Saxon growth, and the legitimate heritage 
of every nation of Anglo-Saxon descent. 

Here, in America, we sometimes lose sight of what those have 
done for us who occupied the world before we came into it. We 
forget that EngHsh history is in a very large degree our history, and 
that England is, as Hawthorne liked to call it, ''our old home." 

In fact, if we go back less than three centuries, the record of 
America becomes one with that of the mother-country, which first 
discovered (§§387, 473) and first permanently settled this, and 
which gave us for leaders and educators Washington, Franklin, 
the Adamses, and John Harvard. In descent, by far the greater 
part of us are of EngHsh blood ; ^ while in language, Hterature, 
law, legislative forms of government, and the essential features of 
civilization, we all owe to England a greater debt than to any 
other country ; and without a knowledge of her history we cannot 
rightly understand our own. 

Standing on her soil we possess practically the same personal 
rights that we do here ; we speak the same tongue, we meet with 
the same famiUar names. We feel that whatever is glorious in 
her past is ours also ; that Westminster Abbey belongs as much 

1 See Macaulay's Essay on Walpole. 

2 In 1840 the population of the United States, in round numbers, was seventeen 
millions, of whom the greater part were probably of English descent. Since than 
there has been an enormous immigration, forty per cent of which was from the British 
Islands ; but it is perhaps safe to say that three-quarters of our present population are 
those who were living here in 1840, with their descendants. Of the immigrants coming 
from non-EngUsh-speaking races, the Germans predominate, and it is to them, as we 
have seen, that the English owe their origin, they being in fact but a modification of 
the Teutonic race. 



[igoi-] GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 419 

to us as to her, for our ancestors helped to build its walls, and 
their dust is gathered in its tombs ; that Shakespeare and Milton 
belong to us in like manner, for they wrote in the language we 
'speak, for the instruction and delight of our fathers' fathers, who 
beat back the Spanish Armada, and gave their lives for liberty on 
the fields of Marston Moor and Naseby. 

Let it be granted that grave issues have arisen in the past to 
separate us ; yet, after all, our interests and our sympathies, like 
our national histories, have more in common than they have 
apart. The progress of each country now reacts for good on the 
other.^ 

If we consider the total combined population of the United 
States and of the British Empire, we find that to-day upwards of 
one hundred and twenty millions of people speak the EngHsh 
tongue, and are governed by the fundamental principles of Eng- 
lish constitutional law. They hold possession of nearly twelve 
milHons of square miles of the earth's surface, — an area nearly 
equal to the united continents of North America and Europe. 
By far the greater part of the wealth and power of the globe 
is theirs. 

They have" expanded by their territorial and colonial growth as 
no other people have. They have absorbed and assimilated the 
millions of emigrants from every race and of every tongue which 
have poured into their dominions. 

The result is, that the inhabitants of the British Islands, of 
Austraha, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada, practically 
form one great Anglo-Saxon race, diverse in origin, separated by 

1 In this connection the testimony of Captain Ah''red T. Mahan, in his recent 
work, The Problem of Asia, is worth quoting here. He says (p. 187), speaking of 
our late war with Spain : " The writer has been assured, by an authority in which 
he entirely trusts, that to a proposition made to Great Britain to enter into a com- 
bination to constrain the use of our [United States] power, — as Japan was five 
years ago constrained by the joint action of Russia, France, and Germany, — the 
reply [of Great Britain] was not only a passive refusal to enter into such a combina- 
tion [against the United States], but an assurance of active resistance to it if 
attempted. . . . Call such an attitude [on the part of England toward the United 
States] friendship, or policy, as you will, — the name is immaterial; the fact is the 
essential thing and will endure, because it rests upon solid interests." 



420 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY [1901-] 

distance, but everywhere exhibiting the same spirit of intelligent 
enterprise and of steady, resistless growth. Thus considered, 
America and England are necessary one to the other. Their 
interests now and in the future are essentially the same. 

In view of these facts, let us say, with an eminent thinker,^ 
whose intellectual home is on both sides of the Atlantic, "What- 
ever there be between the two nations to forget and forgive, is 
forgotten and forgiven. If the two peoples, which are one, be 
true to their duty, who can doubt that the destinies of the world 
are in their hands? " 

1 Archdeacon Farrar, Address on General Grant, Westminster Abbey, 1885. 



GENERAL SUMMARY OF ENGLISH CONSTITU- 
TIONAL HISTORY 1 

1. Origin and Primitive Government of the English People. — 

The main body of the EngHsh people did not originate in Britain, but 
in Northwestern Germany. The Jutes, Saxons, and Angles were inde- 
pendent, kindred tribes living on the banks of the Elbe and its vicinity. 

They had no written laws, but obeyed time-honored customs which 
had all the force of laws. All matters of public importance were 
decided by each tribe at meetings held in the open air. There every 
freeman had an equal voice in the decision. There the people chose 
their rulers and military leaders ; they discussed questions of peace 
and war ; finally, acting as a high court of justice, they tried criminals 
and settled disputes about property. 

In these rude methods we see the beginning of the English Consti- 
tution. Its growth has been the slow work of centuries, but the great 
principles underlying it have never changed. At every stage of their 
progress the English people and their descendants throughout the 
globe have claimed the right of self-government; and, if we except 
the period of the Norman Conquest, whenever that right has been 
persistently withheld or denied the people have risen in arms and 
regained it. 

2. Conquest of Britain; Origin and Power of the King. — After 
the Romans abandoned Britain the English invaded the island, and 
in the course of a hundred and fifty years (449-600) conquered it 
and estabhshed a number of rival settlements. The native Britons 
were, in great part, killed off or driven to take refuge in Wales and 
Cornwall. 

The conquerors brought to their new home the methods of gov- 
ernment and modes of life to which they had been accustomed in 
Germany. A cluster of towns — that is, a small number of enclosed 
habitations (§ 139) — formed a hundred (a district having either a 
hundred families or able to furnish a hundred warriors) ; a cluster of 
hundreds formed a shire or county. Each of these divisions had its 
pubhc meeting, composed of all its freemen or their representatives, 
for the management of its own affairs. But a state of war — for the 
English tribes fought each other as well as fought the Britons — made 

^ This Summary is inserted for the benefit of those who desire a compact, connected view 
of the development of the English Constitution, such as may be conveniently used either for 
reference, for a general review of the subject, or for purposes of special study. — -D. H. M. 

For authorities, see Stubbs (449-14S5) ; Hallam (1485-1760); May (1760-1870); Amos 
(1870-1S80) ; see also Hansard and Cobbett's Parliamentarv History, the works of Freeman, 
Taswell-Langmead (the best one-volume Constitutional History), Feilden (as a convenient 
reference-book this manual has no equal), and Ransome, in the List of Books. 

The re -irences inserted in parentheses are to sections in the body of the history. 



ii LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

a strong central government necessary. For this reason the leader 
of each tribe was made king. At first he was chosen, at large, by 
the entire tribe ; later, unless there was some good reason for a differ- 
ent choice, the King's eldest son was selected as his successor. Thus 
the right to rule was practically fixed in the line of a certain family 
descent. 

The ruler of each of these petty kingdoms was (i) the commander- 
in-chief in war ; (2) he was the supreme judge. 

3. The Witenagemot, or General Council. — In all other respects 
the King's authority was limited — except when he was strong enough 
to get his own way — by the Witenagemot, or General Council. This 
body consisted of the chief men of each kingdom acting in behalf 
of its people.! It exercised the following powers: i. It elected 
the King, and if the people confirmed the choice, he was crowned. 
2. If the King proved unsatisfactory, the Council might depose him 
and choose a successor. 3. The King, with the consent of the Coun- 
cil, made the laws, — that is, he declared the customs of the tribe. 
4. The King, with the Council, appointed the chief officers of the 
kingdom (after the introduction of Christianity this included the 
bishops) ; but the King alone appointed the sheriff, to represent him, 
and collect the revenue in each shire. 5. The Council confirmed or 
denied grants of portions of the public lands made by the King to 
private persons. 6. The Council acted as the high court of justice, 
the King sitting as supreme judge. 7. The Council, with the King, 
discussed all questions of importance, — such as the levying of taxes, 
the making of treaties ; smaller matters were left to the towns, hun- 
dreds, and shires to settle for themselves. After the consolidation of 
the different English kingdoms into one, the Witenagemot expanded 
into the National Council. In it we see " the true beginning of the 
Parhament of England." 

4. How England became a United Kingdom; Influence of the 
Church and of the Danish Invasions. — For a number of centuries 
Britain consisted of a number of little rival kingdoms, almost con- 
stantly at war with each other. Meanwhile missionaries from Rome 
had introduced Christianity (597). Through the influence of Theodore 
of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury (668), the clergy of the different 
hostile kingdoms met in general church councils. ^ This religious unity 
of action prepared the way for political unity. The Catholic Church — 
the only Christian Church (except the Greek Church) then existing — 
made men feel that their highest interests were one ; it "created the 
nation." 

This was the first cause of the union of the kingdoms. The second 

1 The Witenagemot {i.e., the Meeting of the Witan, or Witan, or Wise Men, § 116), says 
Stubbs (Select Charters), represented the people, althougli it was not a collection of repre- 
sentatives. 

- This movement began several years earlier (see § 85), but Theodore of Tarsus was 
its first great organizer. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY 111 

was the invasion of the Danes. These fierce marauders forced the 
people south of the Thames to join in common defence, under the leader- 
ship of Alfred, King of the West Saxons. By the Treaty of Wedmore 
(878), the Danes were compelled to give up Southwestern England, but 
they retained the whole of the Northeast. About the middle of the 
tenth century, one of Alfred's grandsons conquered the Danes, and 
took the title of " King of all England." ^ Later, the Danes, reinforced 
by fresh invasions of their countrymen, made themselves masters of the 
land; yet Canute, the most powerful of these Danish kings, ruled 
according to EngHsh methods. At length the great body of the people 
united in choosing Edward the Confessor king (i 042-1 066). He was 
English by birth, but Norman by education. Under him the unity of 
the English kingdom was, in name at least, fully restored. 

5. Beginning of the Feudal System; its Results. — Meantime 
a great change had taken place in England with respect to holding 
land. We shall see clearly to what that change was tending if we 
look atjihe condition of France. There a system of government and 
of land tenure existed known as the Feudal System (§ 200). Under it 
the King was regarded as the owner of the entire realm. He granted, 
with his royal protection, the use of portions of the land to his chief 
men or nobles, with the privilege of building castles and of establish- 
ing private courts of justice on these estates. Such grants were made 
on two conditions : (i) that the tenants should take part in the King's 
Council ; (2) that they should do military service in the King's' behalf, 
and furnish besides a certain number of fully armed horsemen in 
proportion to the amount oL land they had received. So long as 
they fulfilled these conditions — made under oath — they could retain 
their estates, and hand them down to their children ; but if they failed 
to keep their oath, they forfeited the land to the King. 

These great mihtary barons or lords let out parts of their immense 
manors,^ or estates, on similar conditions, — namely, (i) that their 
vassals or tenants should pay rent to them by doing military or other 
service ; and (2) thatthey should agree that all questions concerning their 
rights and duties should be tried in the lord's private court.^ On the 
other hand, the lord of the manor pledged himself to protect his vassals. 

On every manor there were usually three classes of these tenants : 
(i) those who discharged their rent by doing military duty ; (2) those 

1 Some authorities consider Edgar (959) as the first " King of all England."' In 828 
Egbert, King of the West Saxons, once, though but once, took the lesser title of " King of 
the English." See § 88. 

2 Manor (manor): see plan of a manor (Old French manoir, a mansion), facing page 80, 
the estate of a feudal lord. Eveiy manor had two courts. The most important of these was 
the ^^ court baron.'''' It was composed of all the free tenants of the manor, with the lord (or 
his representative) presiding. It dealt with civil cases only. The second court was the 
''court customary," which dealt with cases connected with villeinage. The manors held by 
the greater barons had a third court, the " court leet'' which dealt with criminal cases, and 
could inflict the death penalty. In all cases the decisions of the manorial courts would be 
pretty sure to be in the lord's favor. In England, however, these courts never acquired the 
degree of power which they did on the continent. 3 gee note above, on the manor. 



IV LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

who paid by a certain fixed amount of labor — or, if they preferred, 
in produce or in money ; (3) the villeins, or common laborers, who 
were bound to remain on the estate and work for the lord, and whose 
condition, although they were not wholly destitute of legal rights, was . 
practically not very much above that of slaves (§ 160). 

But there was another way by which men might enter the Feudal 
System ; for while it was growing up there were many small free land- 
holders, who owned their farms, and owed no man any service what- 
ever. In those times of constant civil war such men would be in almost 
daily peril of losing, not only their property, but their lives. To escape 
this danger, they would hasten to " commend " themselves to some 
powerful neighboring lord. To do this, they pledged themselves to 
become " his men," surrendered their farms to him, and received them 
again as feudal vassals. That is, the lord bound himself to protect 
them against their enemies, and they bound themselves to do "suit 
and service "1 like the other tenants of the manor ; for ^^ suit and 
service'''' on the one side, and '■'• protection'''' on the other, made up 
the threefold foundation of the Feudal Syste7n. 

Thus in time all classes of society became bound together. At 
the top stood the King, who was no man's tenant, but, in name at 
least, every man's master ; at the bottom crouched the villein, who 
was no man's master, but was, in fact, the most servile and helpless 
of tenants. 

Such was the condition of things in France. In England, how- 
ever, this system of land tenure was never completely estabhshed 
until after the Norman Conquest (1066). For in England the tie 
which bound men to the King and to each other was originally one 
of pure choice, and had nothing directly to do with land. Gradually, 
however, this changed ; and by the time of Edward the Confessor 
land in England had come to be held on conditions so closely resem- 
bling those of France that one step more — and that a very short 
one — would have made England a kingdom exhibiting all the most 
dangerous features of French feudalism. 

For, notwithstanding certain advantages,^ feudahsm had this great 
evil : that the chief nobles often became in time more powerful than 
the King. This danger now menaced England. For convenience 
Canute the Dane had divided the realm into four earldoms. The 
holders of these vast estates had grown so mighty that they scorned 
royal authority. Edward the Confessor did not dare resist them. 
The ambition of each earl was to get the supreme mastery. This 
threatened to bring on civil war, and to split the kingdom into 
fragments. Fortunately for the welfare of the nation, William of 
Normandy, by his invasion and conquest of England (1066), put an 
effectual stop to the selfish schemes of these four rival nobles. 

^_ That is, they pledged themselves to do suit in the lord's private court, and to do service 
in his army. 2 Qn the Advantages of Feudalism, see § 123 . 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY V 

6. William the Conqueror and his Work. — After William's vic- 
tory at Hastings and march on London, the National Council chose 
him sovereign, — they would not have dared to refuse, — and he was 
crowned by the Archbishop of York in Westminster Abbey. This 
coronation made him the legal successor of the line of English 
kings. In form, therefore, there was no break in the order of gov- 
ernment ; for though William had forced himself upon the throne, 
he had done so according to law and custom, and not directly by the 
sword. 

Great changes followed the conquest, but they were not violent. 
The King abolished the four great earldoms (§ 107), and restored 
national unity. He gradually dispossessed the chief English land- 
holders of their lands, and bestowed them, under strict feudal laws, 
on his Norman followers. He likewise gave all the highest posi- 
tions in the Church to Norman bishops and abbots. The National 
Council now changed its character. It became simply a body of 
Norman- barons, who were bound by feudal custom to meet with the 
King. But they did not restrain his authority ; for William would 
brook no interference with his will from any one, not even from 
the Pope himself (§ 166). 

But though the Conqueror had a tyrant's power, he rarely used it 
like a tyrant. We have seen^ that the great excellence of the early 
English government lay in the fact that the towns, hundreds, and 
shires were self-governing in all local matters ; the drawback to this 
system was its lack of unity and of a strong central power that could 
make itself respected and obeyed. William supplied this power, — 
without which there could be no true national strength, — yet at the 
same time he was careful to encourage the local system of self- 
government. He gave London a liberal charter to protect its rights 
and liberties (§ 154). He began the organization of a royal court of 
justice ; he checked the rapacious Norman barons in their efforts to 
get control of the people's courts. 

Furthermore, side by side with the 'feudal cavalry army, he main- 
tained the old English county militia of foot-soldiers, in which every 
freeman was bound to serve. He used this militia, when necessary, 
to prevent the barons from getting the upper hand, and so destroying 
those liberties which were protected by the Crown as its own best 
safeguard against the plots of the nobles. 

Next, William had a census, survey, and valuation made of all the 
estates in the kingdom outside London which were worth examina- 
tion. The result of this great work was recorded in Domesday 
Book (§ 169). By means of that book — still preserved — the King 
knew what no English ruler had known before him ; that was, the 
property-holding population and resources of the kingdom. Thus a 

^ See §§ 2, 3 of this Summary. 



VI LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

solid foundation was laid on which to establish the feudal revenue 
and the military power of the Crown. 

Finally, just before his death, the Conqueror completed the organi- 
zation of his government. Hitherto the vassals of the great barons 
had been bound to them alone. They were sworn to fight for their 
masters, even if those masters rose in open rebellion against the 
sovereign. William changed all that. At a meeting held at Salisbury 
(1086) he compelled every landholder in England, from the greatest 
to the smallest,^ — sixty thousand, it is said, — to swear to be "faith- 
ful to him against all others " (§§ 170, 171). By that oath he " broke 
the neck of the Feudal System " as a forin of government^ though 
he retained and developed the principle of feudal land tenure. Thus 
at one stroke he made the Crown the supreme power in England ; 
had he not done so, the nation would soon have fallen a prey to 
civil war. 

7. William's Norman Successors. — William Rufus has a bad 
name in history, and he fully deserves it. But he had this merit: 
he held the Norman barons in check with a stiff hand, and so, in 
one way, gave the country comparative peace. 

His successor, Henry I, granted (iioo) a charter of liberties 
(§ 185, note i) to his people, by which he recognized the sacred- 
ness of the old English laws for the protection of life and property. 
Somewhat more than a century later this document became, as we 
shall see, the basis of the most celebrated charter known in English 
history. Henry attempted important reforms in the administration 
of the laws, and laid the foundation of that system which his grand- 
son, Henry II, was to develop and establish. By these measures 
he gained the title of the "Lion of Justice," who "made peace for 
both man and beast." Furthermore, in an important controversy 
with the Pope respecting the appointment of bishops (§ 186), Henry 
obtained the right (1107) to require that both bishops and abbots, 
after taking possession of their church estates, should be obliged 
like the barons to furnish troops for the defence of the kingdom. 

But in the next reign — that of Stephen — the barons got the 
upper hand, and the King was powerless to control them. They 
built castles without royal license, and from these private fortresses 
they sallied forth to ravage, rob, and murder in all directions. Had 
that period of terror continued much longer, England would have 
been torn to pieces by a multitude of greedy tyrants. 

8. Reforms of Henry II ; Scutage ; Assize of Clarendon ; Juries ; 

Constitutions of Clarendon With Henry II the true reign of 

law begins. To carry out the reforms begun by his grandfather, 
Henry I, the King fought both barons and clergy. Over the first 
he won a complete and final victory ; over the second he gained a 
partial one. 

Henry began his work by pulling down the unlicensed castles 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY VU 

built by the "robber barons" in Stephen's reign. But, according 
to feudal usage, the King was dependent on these very barons for 
his cavalry, — his chief armed force. He resolved to make himself 
independent of their reluctant aid. To do this he offered to release 
them from military service, providing they would pay a tax, called 
" scutage," or " shield-money " (i 159).! The barons gladly accepted 
the offer. With the money Henry was able to hire " mercenaries," 
or foreign troops, to fight for him abroad, and, if need be, in England 
as well. Thus he struck a great blow at the power of the barons, 
since they, through disuse of arms, grew weaker, while the King 
grew steadily stronger. To complete the work, Henry, many years 
later (1181), reorganized the old Enghsh national militia,^ and made 
it thoroughly effective for the defence of the royal authority. For 
just a hundred years (1074-1174) the barons had been trying to 
overthrow the government ; under Henry II the long struggle came 
to an end, and the royal power triumphed. 

But in getting the military control of the kingdom, Henry had won 
only half of the victory he was seeking ; to complete his supremacy 
over the powerful nobles, the king must obtain control of the adminis- 
tration of justice. 

In order to do this more effectually, Henry issued the Assize of 
Clarendon (i 166). It was the first true national code of law ever put 
forth by an English king, since previous codes had been little more 
than summaries of old " customs." The realm had already been 
divided into six circuits, having three judges for each circuit. The 
Assize of Clarendon gave these judges power not only to enter and 
preside over every county court, but also over every court held by a 
baron on his manor. This put a pretty decisive check to the hitherto 
uncontrolled baronial system of justice — or injustice — with its pri- 
vate dungeons and its private gibbets. It brought everything under 
the eye of the King's judges, so that those who wished to appeal to 
them could now do so without the expense, trouble, and danger of a 
journey to the royal palace. 

Again, it had been the practice among the Norman barons to settle 
disputes about land by the barbarous method of trial by battle (§ 198) ; 
Henry gave tenants the right to have the case decided by a body of 
twelve knights acquainted with the facts. 

In criminal cases a great change was likewise effected. Hence- 
forth twelve men from each hundred, with four from each township, 
— sixteen at least, — acting as a grand jury, were to present all sus- 
pected criminals to the circuit judges.^ The judges sent them to the 

1 Scutage: see §211 ; the demand for scutage seems to show that the feudal tenure was 
now fully organized, and that the whole realm was by this time divided into knights' fees, — 
that is, into portions of land yielding ^20 annually, — each of which was obliged to furnish 
one fully armed, well-mounted knight to serve the King (if called on) for forty days annually. 

2 National militia: see §§ 121, 132. 

3 See the Assize of Clarendon (1166) in Stubbs' Select Charters. 



viii LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

ordeal (§ 127) ; if they failed to pass it, they were then punished by 
law as convicted felons ; if they did pass it, they were banished from 
the kingdom as persons of evil repute. After the aboHtion of the 
ordeal (121 5), a petty jury of witnesses was allowed to testify in favor 
of the accused, and clear them if they could from the charges brought 
by the grand jury. If their testimony was not decisive, more wit- 
nesses were added until twelve were obtained who could unanimously 
decide one way or the other. In the course of time^ this smaller 
body became judges of the evidence for or against the accused, and 
thus the modern system of trial by jury was estabhshed. 

These reforms had three important results : (i) they greatly dimin- 
ished the power of the barons by taking the administration of justice, 
in large measure, out of their hands ; (2) they established a more 
uniform system of law ; (3) they brought large sums of money, in 
the way of court fees and fines, into the king's treasury, and so made 
him stronger than ever. 

But meanwhile Henry was carrying on a still sharper battle in his 
attempt to bring the church courts — which William I had separated 
from the ordinary courts — under control of the same system of jus- 
tice. In these church courts any person claiming to belong to the 
clergy had a right to be tried. Such courts had no power to inflict 
death, even for murder. In Stephen's reign many notorious crimi- 
nals had managed to get themselves enrolled among the clergy, and 
had thus escaped the hanging they deserved. Henry was determined 
to have all men — in the circle of clergy or out of it — stand equal 
before the law. Instead of two kinds of justice, he would have but 
one ; this would not only secure a still higher uniformity of law, but 
it would sweep into the King's treasury many fat fees and fines which 
the church courts were then getting for themselves. 

By the laws entitled the "Constitutions of Clarendon" (1164) 
(§ 216), the common courts were empowered to decide whether a man 
claiming to belong to the clergy should be tried by the church courts 
or not. If they granted him the privilege of a church-court trial, they 
kept a sharp watch on the progress of the case ; if the accused was 
convicted, he must then be handed over to the judges of the ordinary 
courts, and they took especial pains to convince him of the Bible 
truth, that " the way of the transgressor is hard." For a time the 
Constitutions were rigidly enforced, but in the end Henry was forced 
to renounce them. Later, however, the principle he had endeavored 
to set up was fully established.^ 

The greatest result springing from Henry's efforts was the training 

1 Certainly by 1450 ; but as late as the reign of George I juries were accustomed to bring 
in verdicts determined partly by their own personal knowledge of the facts. See Taswell- 
Langmead (revised ed.), page 179. 

2 Edward I limited the jurisdiction of the church courts to purely spiritual cases, such as 
heresy and the like ; but the work which he, following the example of Henry II, had 
undertaken was not fully accomplished until the fifteenth century. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY IX 

of the people in public affairs, and the definitive establishment of that 
system of Common Law which regards the people as the supreme 
source of both law and government, and which is directly and vitally 
connected with the principle of representation and of trial by jury.^ 

9. Rise of Free Towns. — While these important changes were 
taking place, the towns were growing in population and wealth (§ 234). 
But as these towns occupied land belonging either directly to the King 
or to some baron, they were subject to the authority of one or the 
other, and so possessed no real freedom. In the reign of Richard I 
many towns purchased certain rights of self-government from the 
King.2 This power of controlling their own affairs greatly increased 
their prosperity, and in time, as we shall see, secured them a voice in 
the management of the affairs of the nation. 

10. John's Loss of Normandy; Magna Carta. — Up to John's 
reign many barons continued to hold large estates in Normandy, in 
addition to those they had acquired in England ; hence their interests 
were divided between the two countries. Through war John lost his 
French possessions (§ 243). Henceforth the barons shut out from 
Normandy came to look upon England as their true home. From 
Henry IPs reign the Normans and the Enghsh had been gradually 
mingling ; from this time they became practically one people. John's 
tyranny and cruelty brought their union into sharp, decisive action. 
The result of his greed for money, and his defiance of all law, was a 
tremendous insurrection. Before this time the people had always 
taken the side of the King against the barons ;, now, with equal reason, 
they turned about and rose with the barons against the King. 

Under the guidance of Archbishop Langton, barons, clergy, and 
people demanded reform. The archbishop brought out the half- 
forgotten charter of Henry I. This now furnished a model for Magna 
Carta, or the " Great Charter of the Liberties of England." ^ 

It contained nothing that was new in principle. It was simply a 
clearer, fuller, stronger statement of those "rights of Englishmen 
which were already old." 

John, though wild with rage, did not dare refuse to affix his royal 
seal to the Great Charter of 121 5. By doing so he solemnly guaran- 
teed : (i) the rights of the Church ; (2) those of the barons ; (3) 
those of all freemen ; (4) those of the villeins, or farm laborers. The 
value of this charter to the people at large is shown by the fact that 
nearly one-third of its sixty-three articles were inserted in their behalf. 
Of these articles, the most important was that which declared that no 
man should be deprived of liberty or property, or injured in body or 
estate, save by the judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. 

In regard to taxation, the Charter provided that, except the customary 

^ See Green's Henry II, in the English Statesmen Series. 

2 See §234. 

3 Magna Carta: see §§247-251, and see Constitutional Documents, page xxix. 



X LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

feudal " aids," ^ none should be levied unless by the consent of 
the National Council. Finally, the Charter expressly provided that 
twenty-five barons — one of whom was mayor of London — should 
be appointed to compel the King to carry out his agreement. 

II. Henry III and the Great Charter; the Forest Charter; Pro- 
visions of Oxford ; Rise of the House of Commons ; Important Land 
Laws. — Under Henry III the Great Charter was reissued. But the 
important articles which forbade the King to levy taxes except by 
consent of the National Council, together with some others restricting 
his power to increase his revenue, were dropped, and never again 
restored.2 

•On the other hand, Henry was obliged to issue a Forest Charter, 
based on certain articles of Magna Carta, which declared that no man 
should lose life or limb for hunting in the royal forests. 

Though the Great Charter was now shorn of some of its safe- 
guards to liberty, yet it was still so highly prized that its confirmation 
was purchased at a high price from successive sovereigns. Down to 
the second year of Henry VI's reign (1423), we find that it had been 
confirmed no less than thirty-seven times. 

Notwithstanding his solemn oath (§ 262), the vain and worthless 
Henry III deliberately violated the provisions of the Charter, in 
order to raise money to waste in his foolish foreign wars or on his 
court circle of French favorites. 

Finally (1258), a body of armed barons, led by Simon de Montfort, 
Earl of Leicester, forced the King to summon a Parliament at Oxford. 
There a scheme of reform, called the " Provisions of Oxford," was 
adopted (§261). By these Provisions, which Henry swore to observe, 
the government was practically taken out of the King's hands, — at 
least as far as he had power to do mischief, — and entrusted to certain 
councils or committees of state. 

A few years later, Henry refused to abide by the Provisions of 
Oxford, and civil war broke out. De Montfort, Earl of Leicester, 
gained a decisive victory at Lewes, and captured the King. The earl 
then summoned a National Council, made up of those who favored 
his policy of reform (§ 265). This was the famous Parliament of 
1265. To it De Montfort summoned : (i) a small number of barons ; 
(2) a large number of the higher clergy ; (3) two knights, or country 
gentlemen, from each shire ; (4) two burghers, or citizens, from 
every town. 

The knights of the shire had been summoned to Parliament 
before ; ^ but this was the first time that the towns had been invited 
to send representatives. By that act the earl set the example of giv- 
ing the people at large a fuller share in the government than they had 

1 For the three customary feudal aids, see § 200. 

2 See Stubbs' Select Charters (Edward I), page 484 ; but compare note i on page 443. 

3 They were first summoned by John, in 12 13. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY XI 

yet had. To De Montfort, therefore, justly belongs the glory of 
being " the founder of the House of Commons " ; though owing, 
perhaps, to his death shortly afterward at the battle of Evesham 
(1265), the regular and continuous representation of the towns did 
not begin until thirty years later. 

Meanwhile (i 279-1 290), three land laws of great importance were 
enacted. The first limited the acquisition of landed property by the 
Church ; ^ the second encouraged the transmission of land by will to 
the eldest son, thus keeping estates together instead of breaking them 
up among several heirs ; ^ the third made purchasers of estates the 
direct feudal tenants of the King.^ The object of these three laws 
was to prevent landholders from evading their feudal obligations ; 
hence they decidedly strengthened the royal power.* 

12. Edward I's "Model Parliament"; Confirmation of the 
Charters. — In 1295, Edward I, one of the ablest men that ever sat 
on the English throne, adopted De Montfort's scheme of representa- 
tion. The King was greatly pressed for money, and his object was 
to get the help of the towns, and thus secure a system of taxation 
which should include all classes. With the significant words, " That 
which toucheth all should be approved by all," he summoned to 
Westminster the first really complete, or " Model Parliament " 
(§ 269),^ consisting of King, Lords (temporal and spiritual), and 
Commons.^ The form Parliament then received it has kept sub- 
stantially ever since. We shall see how from this time the Commons 
gradually grew in influence, — though with periods of relapse, — until 
at length they have become the controlhng power in legislation. 

Ten years after the meeting of the " Model Parliament," in order 
to get money to carry on a war with France, Edward levied a tax on 
the barons, and seized a large quantity of wool belonging to the mer- 
chants. So determined was the resistance to these acts that civil war 
was threatened. In order to avert it, the King was obliged to sum- 
mon a Parliament (1297), and to sign a confirmation of both the 
Great Charter and the Forest Charter (§272). He furthermore 
bound himself in the most solemn manner not to tax his subjects or 
seize their goods without their consent. Henceforth Parliament alone 

^ Statute of Mortmain (1279): see § 278; it was especially directed against the acquisi- 
tion of land by monasteries. 

2 Statute De Donis Conditionalibus or Entail (Westminster II) (1285) : see § 277. 

3 Statute of Quia Emptores (1290) : see § 277. 

* During the same period the Statute of Winchester (1285) reorganized the national 
militia and the police system. See § 276. 

5 De Montfort's Parliament was not wholly lawful and regular, because not voluntarily 
summoned by the King himself. Parliament must be summoned by the sovereign, opened 
by the sovereign (in person or by commission); all laws require the sovereign's signa- 
ture to complete them; and, finally, Parliament can be suspended or dissolved by the 
sovereign only. 

6 The lower clergy were summoned to send representatives ; but their representatives 
came very irregularly, and in the fourteenth century ceased coming altogether. From that 
time they voted their supplies for the Crown in Convocation, until 1663, when Convocation 
ceased to meet. The higher clergy — bishops and abbots — met with the House of Lords. 



Xll LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

was considered to hold control of the nation's purse ; and although 
this principle was afterward evaded, no king openly denied its bind- 
ing force. Furthermore, in Edward IPs reign the House of Commons 
gained (1322), for the first time, a direct share in legislation. This 
step had results of supreme constitutional importance. 

13. Division of Parliament into Two Houses; Growth of the 
Power of the Commons; Legislation by Statute; Impeachment; 
Power over the Purse. — In Edward Ill's reign a great change 
occurred in Parliament. The knights of the shire (about 1343) joined 
the representatives from the towns, and began to sit apart from the 
Lords as a distinct House of Commons. This union gave that House 
a new character, and invested it with a power in Parliament which 
the representation from the towns alone could not have exerted. 
But though thus strengthened, the Commons did not venture to claim 
an equal part with the Lords in framing laws. Their attitude was 
that of humble petitioners. When they had voted the supplies of 
money which the King asked for, the Commons might then meekly 
beg for legislation. Even when the King and the Lords assented to 
their petitions, the Commons often found to their disappointment that 
the laws which had been promised did not correspond to those for 
which they had asked. Henry V pledged his word (1414) that the 
petitions, when accepted, should be made into laws without any altera- 
tion. But, as a matter of fact, this was not effectually done until 
near the close of the reign of Henry VI (about 1461). Then the 
Commons succeeded in obtaining the right to present proposed laws 
in the form of regular bills instead of petitions. These bills when 
•enacted became statutes or acts of Parliament, as we know them 
to-day. This change was a most important one, since it made it 
impossible for the King with the Lords to fraudulently defeat the 
expressed will of the Commons after they had once assented to the 
legislation the Commons desired. 

Meanwhile the Commons gained, for the first time (1376), the 
right of impeaching such ministers of the Crown as they had reason to 
believe were unfaithful to the interests of the people. This, of course, 
put an immense restraining power in their hands, since they could now 
make the ministers responsible, in great measure, for the King.^ 

Next (1406), the Commons insisted on having an account rendered 
of the money spent by the King ; and at times they even limited ^ 
their appropriations of money to particular purposes. Finally, in 
1407, the Commons took the most decided step of all. They boldly 
demanded and obtained the exclusive right of making all grants of 
money required by the Crown.^ 

^ But after 1450 the Commons ceased to exercise the right of impeachment until 1621, 
when they impeached Lord Bacon and others. 

2 The Commons dropped the right of appropriating money for specific objects, — except 
in a single instance under Henry VI, — and did not revive it until 1624. 

3 This right the Common? nev^r surrendered, 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY Xlll 

In future the King — unless he violated the law — had to look to 
the Commons — that is, to the direct representation of the mass 
of the people — for his chief supplies. This made the will of the 
Commons more powerful than it had ever been. 

14. Religious Legislation ; Emancipation of the Villeins ; Dis- 
franchisement of County Electors. — The Parliament of Merton had 
already (1236) refused to introduce the canon or ecclesiastical law 
(§ 317). In the next century two very important statutes relating to 
the Church were enacted, — that of Provisors (1350)^ and of Prae- 
munire (1353 and 1393),^ — limiting the power of the Pope over the 
English Church. On the other hand, the rise of the Lollards had 
caused a statute to be passed (1401) against heretics, and under it 
the first martyr had been burned in England. During this period the 
villeins had risen in insurrection (1381) (§§ 302-304), and were 
gradually gaining their liberty. Thus a very large body of people 
who had been practically excluded from political rights now began to 
slowly sfccquire them.^ But, on the other hand, a statute was enacted 
(1430) which prohibited all persons having an income of less than 
forty shillings a year — or what would be equal to forty pounds at the 
present value of money — from voting for knights of the shire (§ 349). 
Tlie consequence was that the poorer and humbler classes in the 
country were no longer directly represented in the House of Commons. 

15. Wars of the Roses ; Decline of Parliament ; Partial Revival 
of its Power under Elizabeth. — The Civil Wars of the Roses 
(1455-1485) gave a decided check to the. further development of 
parliamentary power. Many noble families were ruined by the pro- 
tracted struggle, and the new nobles created by the King were pledged 
to uphold the interests of the Crown. Furthermore, numerous towns 
absorbed in their own local affairs ceased to elect members to the 
Commons. Thus, with a House of Lords on the side of royal author- 
ity, and with a House of Commons diminished in numbers and in 
influence, the decHne of the independent attitude of Parliament was 
inevitable. 

The result of these changes was very marked. From the reign of 
Henry VI to that of Ehzabeth — a period of about two hundred 
years — " the voice of Parliament was rarely heard." The Tudors 
practically set up a new or " personal monarchy," in which their will 
rose above both ParHament and the constitution;'* and Henry VII, 

^ Provisors : this was a law forbidding the Pope to provide any person (by anticipation) 
with a position in the English Church until the death of the incumbent. 

2 Praemunire : see Constitutional Documents, page xxxii. Neither the law of Provisors 
nor of Prasmunire was strictly enforced until Henry VIII's reign. 

8 Villeins appear, however, to have had the right of voting for knights of the shire until 
the statute of 1430 disfranchised them. 

* Theoretically Henry VII's power was restrained by certain checks (see § 380, note i), 
and even Henry VIII generally ruled according to the letter of the law, however much he 
may have violated its spirit. It is noticeable, too, that it was under Henry VIII (1541) that 
Parliament first formally claimed freedom of speech as one of its " undoubted privileges." 



xiv LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

instead of asking the Commons for money, extorted it in fines enforced 
by his Court of Star-Chamber, or compelled his wealthy subjects 
to grant it to him in "benevolences" (§§ 359, 382), — those "loving 
contributions," as the King called them, " lovingly advanced " ! 

During this period England laid claim to a new continent, and 
Henry VIII, repudiating the authority of the Pope, declared himself 
the "supreme head" (1535) of the English Catholic Church. In the 
next reign (Edward VI) the Cathohc worship, which had existed in 
England for nearly a thousand years, was abolished (1540), and the 
Protestant faith became henceforth — except during Mary's short reign 
— the established religion of the kingdom. It was enforced by two Acts 
of Uniformity (i 549, 1552). One effect of the overthrow of Catholicism 
was to change the character of the House of Lords, by reducing the 
number of spiritual lords from a majority to a minority, as they have 
ever since remained (§ 458, note 2). 

At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign the Second Act of Supremacy 
(1559) shut out all Catholics from the House of Commons (§ 434)- 
Protestantism was fully and finally established as the state religion,^ 
embodied in the creed known as the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) ; and 
by the Third Act of Uniformity (1559) very severe measures were 
taken against all — whether Catholics or Puritans — who refused to 
conform to the Episcopal mode of worship. The High Commission 
Court was organized (1583) to try and to punish heretics — whether 
Catholics or Puritans. The great number of paupers caused by the 
destruction of the monasteries under Henry VIII and the gradual 
decay of relations of feudal service caused the passage of the first 
Poor Law (1601) (§ 455), and so brought the Government face to 
face with a problem which has never yet been satisfactorily settled ; 
namely, what to do with habitual paupers and tramps. 

The closing part of Elizabeth's reign marks the revival of parlia- 
mentary power. The House of Commons now had many Puritan mem- 
bers, and they did not hesitate to assert their right to advise the Queen 
on all questions of national importance. Elizabeth sharply rebuked 
them for presuming to meddle with questions of religion, or for urging 
her either to take a husband or to name a successor to the throne ; but 
even she did not venture to run directly counter to the will of the 
people. When the Commons demanded (1601) that she should put a 
stop to the pernicious practice of granting trading monopolies (§ 440) 
to her favorites, she was obliged to yield her assent. 

16. James I; the Divine Right of Kings; Struggle with 
Parliament. — James began his reign by declaring that kings rule not 
by the will of the people, but by "divine right." " God makes the 
King," said he, "and the King makes the law" (§ 471). For this 
reason he demanded that his proclamations should have all the force 

1 By the third Act of Uniformity and the establishment of the High Commission Court, 
see § 433. The first and second Acts of Uniformity were enacted under Edward VI (§ 414). 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY XV 

of acts of Parliament. Furthermore, since he appointed the judges, 
he could generally get their decisions to support him ; thus he made 
even the courts of justice serve as instruments of his will. In his 
arrogance he declared that neither Parliament nor the people had any 
right to discuss matters of state, whether foreign or domestic, since 
he was resolved to reserve such questions for the royal intellect to 
deal with. By his rehgious intolerance he maddened both Puritans 
and Catholics, and the Pilgrim Fathers fled from England to escape 
his tyranny. 

But there was a limit set to his overbearing conceit. When he 
dictated to the Commons (1604) what persons should sit in that body, 
they indignantly refused to submit to any interference on his part, 
and their refusal was so emphatic that James never brought up the 
matter again. 

The King, however, was so determined to shut out members whom 
he did not like that he attempted to gain his ends by having such 
persons"^eized on charge of debt and thrown into prison. The Com- 
mons, on the other hand, not only insisted that their ancient privilege 
of exemption from arrest in such cases should be respected, but they 
passed a special law (1604) to clinch the privilege. 

Ten years later (161 4) James, pressed for money, called a Parlia- 
ment to get suppHes. He had taken precautions to get a majority of 
members elected who would, he hoped, vote him what he wanted. 
But to his dismay the Commons declined to grant him a penny unless 
he would promise to cease imposing illegal duties on merchandise. 
The King angrily refused, and dissolved the so-called " Addled 
Parliament." ^ 

Finally, in order to show James that it would not be trifled with, a 
later Pariiament (1621) revived the right of impeachment, which had 
not been resorted to since 1450.^ The Commons now charged Lord 
Chancellor Bacon, judge of the High Court of Chancer}^, and " keeper 
of the King's conscience," with accepting bribes. Bacon held the 
highest office in the gift of the Crown, and the real object of the impeach- 
ment was to strike the King through the person of his chief official 
and supporter. Bacon confessed his crime, saying, " I was the justest 
judge that was in England these fifty years, but it was the justest 
censure in Parliament that was these two hundred years." 

James tried his best to save his servile favorite, but it was useless, 
and Bacon was convicted, disgraced, and partially punished (§ 477). 

The Commons of the same Parliament petitioned the King against 
the alleged growth of the Catholic religion in the kingdom, and espe- 
cially against the proposed marriage of the Prince of Wales to a Spanish 
Catholic princess. James ordered the Commons to let mysteries of 

1 This Parliament was nicknamed the " Addled Parliament," because it did not enact a 
single law, though it most effectually "addled" the King's plans. See § 476, 

2 See § 13 of this Summary. 



XVI LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

state alone. They claimed liberty of speech. The King asserted that 
they had no liberties except such as the royal power saw fit to grant. 
Then the Commons drew up their famous Protest, in which they 
declared that their liberties were not derived from the king, but were 
" the ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the people of 
England." In his rage James ordered the journal of the Commons 
to be brought to him, tore out the Protest with his own hand, and sent 
five of the members of the House to prison (§ 471). This rash act 
made the Commons more determined than ever not to yield to arbi- 
trary power. James died three years later, leaving his unfortunate 
son Charles to settle the angry controversy he had raised. 

17. Charles I; Forced Loans; the Petition of Right. — Charles I 
came to the throne full of his father's lofty ideas of the Divine Right of 
Kings to govern as they pleased. In private life he was conscientious, 
but in his public policy he was a man " of dark and crooked ways." 

He had married a French Catholic princess, and the Puritans, who 
were now very strong in the House of Commons, believed that the King 
secretly sympathized with the Queen's religion. This was not the case ; 
for Charles, after his peculiar fashion, was a sincere Protestant, though 
he favored the introduction into the English Church of some of the 
ceremonies peculiar to Catholic worship. 

The Commons showed their distrust of the King by voting him the 
tax of tonnage and poundage (certain duties levied on wine and mer- 
chandise), for a single year only, instead of for life, as had been their 
custom. The Lords refused to assent to such a limited grant,^ and 
Charles deliberately collected the tax without the authority of Parlia- 
ment. Failing, however, to get a sufficient supply in that way, the 
King forced men of property to grant him " benevolences," and to 
loan him large sums of money with no hope of its return. Those who 
dared to refuse were thrown into prison on some pretended charge, or 
had squads of brutal soldiers quartered in their houses. 

When even these measures failed to supply his wants, Charles was 
forced to summon a Parliament, and ask for help. Instead of granting 
it, the Commons drew up the Petition of Right 2 of 1628, as an indig- 
nant remonstrance, and as a safeguard against further acts of tyranny. 
This Petition has been called the " Second Great Charter of the Liber- 
ties of England." It declared : i. That no one should be compelled to 
pay any tax or to supply the king with money, except by order of act 
of Parliament. 2. That neither soldiers nor sailors should be quartered 
in private houses.^ 3. That no one should be imprisoned or punished 
contrary to law. Charles was forced by his need of money to assent to 
this Petition, which thus became a most important part of the English 
constitution. But the King did not keep his word. When Parliament 

^ See Taswell-Langmead (revised edition), page 557, note. 

2 Petition of Right : see § 484, and Constitutional Documents, page xxix. 

3 The king was also deprived of the power to press citizens into the army and navy. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY xvu 

next met (1629), it refused to grant money unless Charles would renew 
his pledge not to violate the law. The King made some concessions, 
but finally resolved to adjourn Parliament. Several members of the 
Commons held the Speaker in the chair by force, — thus preventing 
the adjournment of the House, — until resolutions offered by Sir John 
Eliot were passed (§ 486). These resolutions were aimed directly at 
the King. They declared : (i) that he is a traitor who attempts any 
change in the established religion of the kingdom ;i (2) who levies 
any tax not voted by Parliament ; (3) or who voluntarily pays such 
a tax. Parliament then adjourned. 

18. " Thorough ' ' ; Ship Money ; the " Short Parliament. ' ' — The 
King swore that " the vipers " who opposed him should have their 
reward. EHot was thrown into prison, and kept there till he died. 
Charles made up his mind that, with the help of Archbishop Laud 
in church matters, and of Lord Strafford in affairs of state, he would 
rule without ParHaments. Strafford urged the King to adopt the 
policy oi "Thorough "2 (§487) ; in other words, to follow the bent 
of his own will without consulting the will of the nation. This, of 
course, practically meant the overthrow of parliamentary and con- 
stitutional government. Charles heartily approved of this plan for 
setting up what he called a " beneficent despotism" based on " Divine 
Right." 

The King now resorted to various illegal means to obtain supplies. 
The last device he hit upon was that of raising ship money. To do 
this, he levied a tax on all the counties of England, — inland as well 
as seaboard, — on the pretext that he purposed building a navy for 
the defence of the kingdom. John Hampden refused to pay the tax, 
but Charles' servile judges decided against him, when the case was 
brought into court (§ 488). 

Charles ruled without a Parhament for eleven years. He might, 
perhaps, have gone on in this way for as many more, had he not 
provoked the Scots to rebel by attempting to force a modified form 
of the English Prayer-Book on the Church of that country (§ 490). 
The necessities of the war with the Scots compelled the King to call 
a Parliament. It decHned to grant the King money to carry on the 
war unless he would give some satisfactory guarantee of governing 
according to the will of the people. Charles refused to do this, and 
after a three weeks' session he dissolved what was known as the 
" Short Parliament." 

19. The **Long Parliament"; the Civil "War. — But the war 
gave Charles no choice, and before the year was out he was obliged 

^ The Puritans generally believed that the King wished to restore the Catholic religion as 
the Established Church of England, but in this idea they were mistaken. 

2 "Thorough": Straff ord wrote to Laud, "You may govern as you please. ... I am 
confident that the King is able to carry any just and honorable action thorough [i.e., through 
or against] all imaginable opposition." Both Strafford and Laud used this word " thorough," 
in this sense, to designate their tyrannical policy. 



XVlll LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

to call the famous "Long Parliament" of 1640.1 That body met 
with the firm determination to restore the liberties of Englishmen or 
to perish in the attempt, i. It impeached Strafford and Laud, and 
sent them to the scaffold as traitors.^ 2. It swept away those instru- 
ments of royal oppression, the Court of Star-Chamber and the High 
Commission Court (§§ 382, 433). 3. It expelled the bishops from 
the House of Lords. 4. It passed the Triennial Bill, compelling the 
King to summon a Parliament at least once in three years.^ 5. It 
also passed a law declaring that the King could not suspend or dis- 
solve Parliament without its consent. 6. Last of all, the Commons 
drew up the Grand Remonstrance (§491), enunciating at great length 
the grievances of the last sixteen years, and vehemently appealing to 
the people to support them in their attempts at reform. The Remon- 
strance was printed and distributed throughout England.* 

About a month later (1642) the King, at the head of an armed 
force, undertook to seize Hampden, Pym, and three other of the 
most active members of the Commons on a charge of treason (§ 492). 
The attempt failed. Soon afterward the Commons passed the Militia 
Bill, and thus took the command of the national militia and of the 
chief fortresses of the realm, " to hold," as they said, "for King and 
Parliament." The act was unconstitutional ; but, after the attempted 
seizure of the five members, the Commons felt certain that if they 
left the command of the militia in the King's hands, they would 
simply sign their own death warrant. 

In resentment of this action, Charles now (1642) began the civil 
war. It resulted in the execution of the King, and in the temporary 
overthrow of the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the Established 
Episcopal Church (§ 500). In place of the monarchy, the party in 
power set up a short-lived Puritan Republic. This was followed by 
the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell and that of his son Richard 

(§§507-517). 

20. Charles II ; Abolition of Feudal Tenure ; Establishment of a 
Standing Army. — In 1660 the people, weary of the Protectorate 
form of government, welcomed the return of Charles II. His coming 
marks the restoration of the monarchy, of the House of Lords, and 
of the National Episcopal Church. 

A great change was now effected in the source of the King's 
revenue. Hitherto it had sprung largely from feudal dues. These 

^ The "Long Parliament": it sat from 1640 to 1653, and was not finally dissolved 
until 1660. 

2 Charles assured Strafford that Parliament should not touch "a hair of his head"; but 
to save himself the King signed the Bill of Attainder (see page xxxii), which sent his ablest 
and most faithful servant to the block. Well might Strafford exclaim, " Put not your trust 
in princes." 

3 The Triennial Act was repealed in 1664, and reenacted in 1694. In 1716 the Septennial 
Act increased the limit of three years to seven. This act is still in force. " , 

* The press soon became, for the first time, a most active agent of political agitation, both 
for and against the King. See §495. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY XIX 

had long been difficult to collect, because the Feudal System had 
practically died out. The feudal land tenure with its dues was now 
abolished, — a reform, says Blackstone, greater even than that of 
Magna Carta, — and in their place a tax was levied for a fixed sum 
(§ 534)- This tax should in justice have fallen on the landowners, 
who profited by the change ; but they managed to evade it, in great 
measure, and by getting it levied on beer and some other liquors, 
they forced the w^orking classes to shoulder the chief part of the 
burden, which they still continue to carry. 

Parliament now restored the command of the militia to the King ; ^ 
and, for the first time in Enghsh history, it also gave him the com- 
mand of a standing army of five thousand men, — thus, in one way, 
making him more powerful than ever before (§ 519). 

On the other hand, Parliament revived the practice of limiting its 
appropriations of money to specific purposes.^ It furthermore began 
to require an exact account of how the King spent the money, — a 
most embarrassing question for Charles to answer. Again, Parlia- 
ment dici not hesitate to impeach and remove the King's ministers 
whenever they forfeited the confidence of that body.^ 

The religious legislation of this period marks the strong reaction 
from Puritanism which had set in. i. The Corporation Act (1661) 
excluded all persons who did not renounce the Puritan Covenant, 
and partake of the Sacrament according to the Church of England, 
from holding municipal or other corporate offices (§ 524). 2. The 
fourth Act of Uniformity * required all clergymen to accept the 
Book of Common Prayer of (1662) the Church of England (§ 524). 
The result of this law was that no less than two thousand Puritan 
ministers were driven from their pulpits in a single day. 3. The 
Conventicle Act (§ 524) followed (1664). It forbade the preaching 
or hearing of Puritan doctrines, under severe penalties. 4. The Five- 
Mile Act (1665) (§ 524) 5 prohibited nonconforming clergymen from 
teaching, or from coming within five miles of any corporate town 
(except when travelling). 

21. Origin of Cabinet Government; the Secret Treaty of Dover; 
the Test Act ; the Habeas Corpus Act. — Charles made a great and 
most important change with respect to the Privy Council. Instead 
of consulting the entire Council on matters of state, he estabhshed 
the custom of inviting a few only to meet with him in his cabinet, 
or private room. This limited body of confidential advisers was 
called the " Cabal," or secret council (§ 522). 

* See Militia Bill, § 19 of this Summary. ^ See § 13 of this Summary. 
^ See § 13 of this Summary (Impeachment). 

* The first and second Acts of Uniformity date from Edward VI (1549, 1552); the third 
from Elizabeth (1559). See §§414, 433, 524. 

s The Five-Mile Act (1665) excepted those clergymen who took the oath of non-resistance 
to the King, and who swore not to attempt to alter the constitution of Church or State. See 
Hallam's Constitutional History of England, 



XX LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

Charles' great ambition was to increase his standing army, to rule 
independently of Parliament, and to get an abundance of money to 
spend on his extravagant pleasures and vices. 

In order to accomplish these three ends he made a secret and 
shameful treaty with Louis XIV of France (1670) (§528). Louis 
wished to crush the Dutch Protestant Republic of Holland, to get 
possession of Spain, and to secure, if possible, the ascendency of 
Catholicism in England as well as throughout Europe. Charles, 
who was destitute of any religious principle, — or, in fact, of any 
sense of honor, — agreed publicly to declare himself a Catholic, to 
favor the propagation of that faith in England, and to make war on 
Holland in return for very liberal grants of money, and for the loan 
of six thousand French troops by Louis, to help him put down any 
opposition in England. Two members of the Cabal were acquainted 
with the terms of this secret Treaty of Dover. Charles made a second 
secret treaty with Louis XIV in 1678. 

Charles did not dare openly to avow himself a convert — or pre- 
tended convert — to the Catholic religion ; but he issued a Declara- 
tion of Indulgence (1672) suspending the harsh statutes against the 
English Catholics (§ 529). 

Parliament took the alarm and passed the Test Act (1673), by 
which all Catholics were shut out from holding any government office 
or position (§ 529). This act broke up the Cabal, by compelling a 
Catholic nobleman, who was one of its leading members, to resign. 
Later, Padiament further showed its power by compelling the King 
to sign the Act of Habeas Corpus (1679) (§ 534), which put an end 
to his arbitrarily throwing men into prison, and keeping them there, in 
order to stop their free discussion of his plots against the constitution.^ 

But though the Cabal had been broken up, the principle of a lim- 
ited private council survived, and thirty years after the Revolution 
of 1688 it was revived, and took the name of the " Cabinet" (§ 583). 
Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, who is its head, the Cabi- 
net has become responsible for the policy of the sovereign. 2 Should 
Padiament decidedly oppose that policy, the Prime Minister, with his 
Cabinet, either resigns, and a new Cabinet is chosen, or the minister 
appeals to the people for support, and the sovereign dissolves Parlia- 
ment and orders a new parliamentary election, by which the nation 
decides the question. This method renders the old, and never desir- 
able, remedy of the impeachment of the ministers of the sovereign no 
longer necessary. The Prime Minister — who answers for the acts 
of the sovereign and for his policy — is more directly responsible to 
the people than is the President of the United States. 

* See Habeas Corpus Act in Constitutional Documents, page xxxii. 

2 The real efficiency of the cabinet system of government was not fully developed until 
after the Reform Act of 1832 had widely extended the right of suffrage, and thus made the 
government more directly responsible to the people. See § 583, and note 2. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY XXI 

22. The Pretended '' Popish Plot " ; Rise of the Whigs and the 
Tories ; Revocation of Town Charters. — The pretended " Popish 
Plot" (1678) (§530) to kill the King, in order to place his brother 
James — a Catholic convert — on the throne, caused the rise of ? 
strong movement (1680) to exclude James from the right of succes- 
sion. The Exclusion Bill failed (§ 530) ; but the Disabling Act was 
passed (1678), excluding Catholics from sitting in either House of 
Parliament ; but an exception was made in favor of the Duke of 
York. Henceforward two prominent political parties appear in Parlia- 
ment, — one, that of the Whigs or Liberals, bent on extending the 
power of the people ; the other, that of the Tories or Conservatives, 
resolved to maintain the power of the Crown. 

Charles, of course, did all in his power to encourage the latter 
party. In order to strengthen their numbers in the Commons, he 
found pretexts for revoking the charters of many Whig towns (§ 531). 
He then issued new charters to these towns, giving the power of elec- 
tion to-the Tories.! While engaged in this congenial work the King 
died, and his brother James came to the throne. 

23. James II; the Dispensing Power; Declaration of Indul- 
gence; the Revolution of 1688. — James II was a zealous Catholic, 
and therefore naturally desired to secure freedom of worship in Eng- 
land for people of his own faith. In his zeal he went too far, and 
the Pope expressed his disgust at the King's foolish rashness. By 
the exercise of the Dispensing Power ^ he suspended the Test Act 
and the Act of Uniformity, in order that Catholics might be relieved 
from the penalties imposed by these laws, and also for the purpose of 
giving them civil and military offices, from which the Test Act 
excluded them (§ 540). James also established a new High Com- 
mission Court ^ (§ 540), and made the infamous Judge Jeffreys the 
head of this despotic tribunal. This court had the supervision of 
all churches and institutions of education. Its main object was to 
further the spread of Catholicism, and to silence those clergymen 
who preached against that faith. The King appointed a Catholic 
president of Magdalen College, Oxford, and expelled from the college 
all who opposed the appointment. Later, he issued two Declarations 
of Indulgence (1687, 1688), in which he proclaimed universal reli- 
gious toleration (§ 540). It was generally believed that under cover 
of these declarations the King intended to favor the ascendency of 
Catholicism. Seven bishops, who petitioned for the privilege of 
declining to read the declarations from their pulpits, were imprisoned, 

^ The right of election in many towns was then confined to the town officers or to a few 
influential inhabitants. This continued to be the case until the passage of the Reform Bill 
in 1832. 

2 This was the exercise of the right, claimed by the King as one of his prerogatives, of 
exempting individuals from the penalty of certain laws. The King also claimed the right of 
suspending entirely (as in the case of the Declaration of Indulgence) one or more statutes. 
Both these rights had been exercised, at times, from a very early date. 

3 New High Commission Court : see § ig of this Summary. 



XXU LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

but on their trial were acquitted by a jury in full sympathy with 
them (§541). 

These acts of the King, together with the fact that he had greatly 
increased the standing army, and had stationed it just outside of 
London, caused great alarm throughout England (§ 540). The 
majority of the people of both parties (§531) believed that James 
was plotting ' to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and 
the laws and liberties of the kingdom.' 1 

Still, so long as the King remained childless, the nation was encour- 
aged by the hope that James' daughter Mary might succeed him. 
She was known to be a decided Protestant, and she had married 
William, Prince of Orange, the head of the Protestant Republic of 
Holland. But the birth of a son to James (1688) put an end to that 
hope. Immediately a number of leading Whigs and Tories (§§ 531, 
542) united in sending an invitation to the Prince of Orange to come 
over to England with an army to protect Parliament against the King 
backed by his standing army. 

24. William and Mary; Declaration of Right; Results of the 
Revolution. — William came ; James fled to France. A Convention 
Parliament 2 drew up a Declaration of Right which declared that the 
King had abdicated, and which therefore offered the crown to William 
and Mary (§ 546). They accepted. Thus by the bloodless Revolu- 
tion of 1688 the English nation transferred the sovereignty, to those 
who had no direct legal claim to it so long as James and his son were 
living (§ 542). Hence by this act the people deliberately set aside 
hereditary succession, as a binding rule, and revived the primitive 
English custom of choosing such a sovereign as they deemed best. 
In this sense the uprising of 1688 was most emphatically a revolution 
(§§ 544, 550). It made, as Green has said, an English monarch as 
much the creature of an act of Parliament as the pettiest tax-gatherer 
in his realm. But it was a still greater revolution in another way, 
since it gave a death blow to the direct "personal monarchy," which 
began with the Tudors two hundred years before. It is true that in 
George Ill's reign we shall see that power temporarily revived, but 
we shall never hear anything more of that Divine Right of Kings, 
for which one Stuart " lost his head, and another, his crown." Hence- 
forth the House of Commons will govern England, although, as we 
shall see, it will be nearly a hundred and fifty years before that House 
will be able to free itself from the control of either a few powerful 
families on the one hand, or that of the Crown on the other. 

25. Bill of Rights ; the Commons by the Revenue and the 
Mutiny Act obtain Complete Control over the Purse and the Sword. — 
In order to make the constitutional rights of the people unmistakably 

1 See the language of the Bill of Rights (Constitutional Documents), page xxxi. 

2 Convention Parliament : it was so called because it was not regularly summoned by the 
King, — he having fled the country. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY XXIU 

clear, the Bill of Rights (1689) — an expansion of the Declaration 
of Right — was drawn up (§ 549). The Bill of Rights 1 declared: 
I. That there should be no suspension or change in the laws, and 
no taxation except by act of Parliament. 2. That there should be 
freedom of election to Parliament and freedom of speech in Parlia- 
ment (both rights that the Stuarts had attempted to control). 
3. That the sovereign should not keep a standing army, in time of 
peace, except by consent of ParHament. 4. That in future no Roman 
Catholic should sit on the English throne. This last clause was 
reaffirmed by the Act of Settlement (1701) (§549).^ 

This most important bill, having received the signature of William 
and Mary, became law. It constitutes the third great written charter 
or safeguard of EngHsh liberty. Taken in connection with Magna 
Carta and the Petition of Right, it forms, according to Lord Chatham, 
" the Bible of English liberty " (§ 549). 

But Parliament had not yet finished the work of reform it had 
taken in hand. The executive strength of every government depends 
on its control of two powers, — the purse and the sword. Parliament 
had, as we have seen, got a tight grasp on the first, for the Commons, 
and the Commons alone, could levy taxes ; but within certain very 
wide limits, the personal expenditure of the sovereign still practically 
remained unchecked. Parliament now (1689) took the decisive step 
of voting by the Revenue Act, (i) a specific sum for the maintenance 
of the Crown, and (2) of voting this supply, not for the life of the 
sovereign, as had been the custom, but for four years (§ 550). A little 
later this supply was fixed for a single year only. This action gave to 
the Commons final and complete control of the purse (§ 632). 

Next, Parliament passed the Mutiny Act (1689) (§ 548), which 
granted the king power to enforce martial law — in other words, to 
maintain a standing army — for one year at a time, and no longer 
save by renewal of the law. This act gave Parliament complete 
control of the sword, and thus finished the great work ; for without 
the annual meeting and the annual vote of that body, an English 
sovereign would at the end of a twelvemonth stand penniless 
and helpless. 

26. Reforms in the Courts ; the Toleration Act ; the Press made 
Free. — The same year (1689) Parliament effected great and sorely 
needed reforms in the administration of justice (§ 544). 

Next, Parliament passed the Toleration Act (1689) (§ 548). This 
measure granted liberty of worship to all Protestant Dissenters except 
those who denied the doctrine of the Trinity.^ The Toleration Act, 
however, did not abolish the Corporation Act or the Test Act,^ and 

1 Bill of Rights : see Constitutional Documents, page xxxi. 

2 See, too. Constitutional Documents, page xxxii. 

3 Freedom of worship was granted to Unitarians in 1812. 

* The Act of Indemnity of 1727 suspended the penalties of the Test and the Corporation 
acts •, they were both repealed in 1828. 



XXIV LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

it granted no religious freedom to Catholics. ^ Still, the Toleration Act 
was a step forward, and it prepared the way for that absolute liberty 
of worship and of religious belief which now exists in England. 

In finance, the reign of William and Mary was marked by the 
practical beginning of the permanent National Debt and by the 
estabhshment of the Bank of England (§ 552). 

Now, too (1695), the English press, for the first time in its history, 
became permanently free (§ 5 50 [4]), though hampered by a very severe 
law of libel and by stamp duties.^ From this period the influence of 
newspapers continued to increase, until the final abolition of the stamp 
duty (1855) made it possible to issue penny and even half-penny 
papers at a profit. These cheap newspapers sprang at once into an 
immense circulation among all classes, and thus they became the 
power for good or evil, according to their character, which they are 
to-day ; so that it w^ould be no exaggeration to say that back of the 
power of Parliament now stands the greater power of the press. 

27. The House of Commons no longer a Representative Body ; 
the First Two Georges and their Ministers. — But now that the Rev- 
olution of 1688 had done its work, and transferred the power of the 
Crown to the House of Commons, a new difficulty arose. That was 
the fact that the Commons did not represent the people, but stood 
simply as the representative of a small number of rich Whig land- 
owners.^ In many towns the right to vote was confined to the town 
officers or the well-to-do citizens. In other cases, towns which had 
dwindled in population to a very few inhabitants continued to have 
the right to send two members to Parliament, while on the other 
hand large and flourishing cities had grown up which had no power 
to send even a single member (§ 623). The result of this state of 
things was that the wealthy Whig families bought up the votes of 
electors, and so regularly controlled the elections (§ 597). 

Under the first two Georges, both of whom were foreigners, the 
ministers — especially Robert Walpole, who was the first real Prime 
Minister of England, and who held his place for twenty years (1721- 
1 742) — naturally stood in the foreground. They understood the ins 
and outs of English politics, while the two German sovereigns, the 
first of whom never learned to speak English, neither knew nor cared 
anything about them. When men wanted favors or offices, they went 
to the ministers for them (§ 587). This made men like Walpole so 
powerful that George II said bitterly, " In England the ministers are 
king" (§583). 

"^ Later, very severe laws were enacted against the Catholics ; and in the next reign 
(Anne's) the Act of Occasional Conformity and the Schism Act were directed against 
Protestant Dissenters. 

2 Furthermore, the Corresponding Societies' Acts (1793, 1799) operated for a time as a 
decided check on the freedom of the press. See May's Constitutional History of England. 

3 The influence of the Whigs had secured the passage of the Act of Settlement which 
brought in the Georges ; for this reason the Whigs had gained the chief political power. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY XXV 

28. George Ill's Revival of " Personal Monarchy" ; the "King's 
Friends." — George III was born in England, and prided himself 
on being an Englishman. He came to the throne fully resolved, as 
Walpole said, " to make his power shine out," and to carry out his 
mother's constant injunction of, " George, be King! " (§ 597). To do 
this, he set himself to work to trample on the power of the ministers, 
to take the distribution of offices and honors out of their hands, and 
furthermore to break down the influence of the great Whig families 
in Parliament. He had no intention of reforming the House of 
Commons, or of securing the representation of the people in it ; his 
purpose was to gain the control of the House, and use it for his own 
ends. In this he was thoroughly conscientious, according to his idea 
of right, — for he believed with all his heart in promoting the welfare 
of England, — but he thought that welfare depended on the will of 
the King much more than on that of the nation. His maxim was 
" everything for, but nothing by, the people." By liberal gifts of 
money;* — he spent ^25,000 in a single day (1762) in bribes,^ — by 
gifts of offices and of honors to those who favored him, and by taking 
away offices, honors, and pensions from those who opposed him, 
George III succeeded in his purpose. He raised up a body of men 
in Parliament, known by the significant name of the " King's 
Friends," who stood ready at all times to vote for his measures. In 
this way he actually revived " personal monarchy " ^ for a time, and 
by using his " Friends " in the House of Commons and in the Lords 
as his tools, he made himself quite independent of the checks imposed 
by the constitution. 

29. The American Revolution. — The King's power reached its 
greatest height between 1 770-1 782. He made most disastrous use of 
it, not only at home, but abroad. He insisted that the English colo- 
nists in America should pay taxes, without representation in Parlia- 
ment, even of that imperfect kind which then existed in Great Britain. 
This determination brought on the American Revolution — called in 
England the " King's War " (§§ 598-601). The war, in spite of its 
ardent support by the " King'5 Friends," roused a powerful opposition 
in Parliament. Chatham, Burke, Fox, and other able men protested 
against the King's arbitrary course. Finally Dunning moved and 
carried this resolution (1780) in the Commons : " Resolved, that the 
power of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be 
diminished " (§ 597). This vigorous proposition came too late to 
affect the conduct of the war, and England lost the most valuable of 
her colonial possessions. The struggle, which ended successfully for 

■^ Pitt (Lord Chatham) was one of the few public men of that day who would neither give 
nor take a bribe ; Walpole declared with entire truth that the great majority of politicians 
could be bought — it was only a question of price. The King appears to have economized 
in his living, in order to get more money to use as a corruption fund. See May's Constitu- 
tional History. 

2 " Personal monarchy": see § 15 of this Summary, 



XXVI LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

the patriots in America, was in reality part of the same battle fought 
in England by other patriots in the halls of Parliament. On the 
western side of the Atlantic it resulted in the establishment of 
national independence ; on the eastern side, in the final overthrow 
of royal tyranny and the triumph of the constitution. It further- 
more laid the foundation of that just and generous policy on the part 
of England toward her other colonies which has made her mistress of 
the largest and most prosperous empire on the globe. ^ 

30. John Wilkes and the Middlesex Elections; Publication of 
Parliamentary Debates. — Meanwhile John Wilkes (§ 604), a mem- 
ber of the House of Commons, had gained the recognition of a most 
important principle. He was a coarse and violent opponent of the 
royal policy, and had been expelled from the House on account of his 
bitter personal attack on the King.^ Several years later (1768) he 
was reelected to Parliament, but was again expelled for seditious 
libel ; ^ he was three times reelected by the people of London and 
Middlesex, who looked upon him as the champion of their cause ; 
each time the House refused to permit him to take his seat, but at 
the fourth election he was successful. A few years later (1782) he 
induced the House to strike out from its journal the resolution there 
recorded against him.^ Thus Wilkes, by his indomitable persistency, 
succeeded in establishing the right of the people to elect the candidate 
of their choice to ParHament. During the same period the people 
gained another great victory over Parliament. That body had utterly 
refused to permit the debates to be reported in the newspapers. But 
the redoubtable Wilkes was determined to obtain and publish such 
reports ; rather than have another prolonged battle with him. Parlia- 
ment conceded the privilege (1771) (§ 604). The result was that the 
public then, for the first time, began to know what business Parliament 
actually transacted, and how it was done. This fact, of course, 
rendered the members of both Houses far more directly responsible 
to the will of the people than they had ever been before.^ 

31. The Reform Bills of 1832, 1867, 1884; Demand for "Man- 
hood Suffrage." — But notwithstanding this decided political progress, 
still the greatest reform of all — that of the system of electing mem- 
bers of Parliament — still remained to be accomplished. Cromwell 
had attempted it (1654), but the Restoration put an end to the work 
which the Protector had so wisely begun. Lord Chatham felt the 
necessity so strongly that he had not hesitated to declare (1766) 

1 The area of the British Empire in 1901 was nearly 12,000,000 square miles. 

2 In No. 45 of the North Briton (1763) Wilkes rudely accused the King of having delib- 
erately uttered a falsehood in his speech to Parliament. 

3 The libel was contained in a letter written to the newspapers by Wilkes. 

* The resolution was finally stricken out, on the ground that it was "subversive of the 
rights of the whole body of electors." 

^ The publication of Division Lists (equivalent to Yeas and Nays) by the House of Com- 
mons in 1836 and by the Lords in 1857 completed this work. Since then the public have 
known how each member of Parliament votes on every important question. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY XXVll 

that the system of representation — or rather misrepresentation — 
which then existed was the "rotten part of the constitution." "If 
it does not drop," said he, "it must be amputated." Later (1770), 
he became so alarmed at the prospect that he declared that " before 
the end of the century either the Parliament will reform itself from 
within, or be reformed from without with a vengeance." 

But the excitement caused by the French Revolution and the wars 
with Napoleon, not only prevented any general movement of reform, 
but made it possible to enact the Six Acts and other stringent 
laws against agitation in that direction (§ 616). Finally, however, 
the unrepresented millions rose in their might (§§ 623-625), and by 
terrible riots made it evident that it would be dangerous for Parlia- 
ment to postpone action on their demands. The Reform Bill — 
the "Great Charter of 1832" — swept away the "rotten boroughs," 
which had disgraced the country. It granted the right of election 
to many large towns which had hitherto been unable to send mem- 
bers to Parliament, and it placed representation on a broader, 
healthier, and more equitable basis than had ever existed before. 
It was a significant fact that when the first reformed Parliament 
met, composed largely of Liberals, it showed its true spirit by 
abolishing slavery in the West Indies. It was followed by the 
Municipal Reform Act of 1835 (§ 640). Later (1848), the Chartists 
advocated further reforms (§ 634), most of which have since been 
adopted. 

In 1867 an act (§640), scarcely less important than that of 1832, 
broadened representation still further; and in 1884 the franchise 
was again extended (§ 640). A little later (1888) the County 
Council Act reconstructed the local self-government of the country 
in great measure. ^ It was supplemented in 1894 by the Parish 
Council Act. The cry is now for unrestricted " manhood suffrage," 
on the principle of "one man one vote"^ — woman suffrage in a 
limited degree already exists (§ 640). 

32. Extension of Religious Liberty; Admission of Catholics and 
Jews to Parliament ; Free Trade. — Meanwhile immense progress 
was made in extending the principles of religious liberty to all bodies 
of believers. After nearly three hundred years (or since the second 
Act of Supremacy, 1559), Catholics were (1830) admitted to the 
House of Commons ; and in the next generation (1858) Jews were 
likewise admitted. Recent legislation (the Oaths Act of 1888) 
makes it impossible to exclude any one on account of his religious 
belief or unbelief. 



1 The "Local Government" Act: this gives to counties the management of their local 
affairs and secures uniformity of method and of administration. 

2 That is, the abolition of certain franchise privileges springing from the possession of 
landed property in different counties or parliamentary districts by which the owner of such 
property is entitled to cast more than one vote for a candidate for Parliament.. 



XXVlll LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

Commercially the nation has made equal progress. The barbarous 
Corn Laws (§§ 635, 636) were repealed in 1848, the narrow protective 
policy of centuries abandoned ; and since that period England has 
practically taken its stand on unlimited free trade with all countries. 

33. Condition of Ireland; Reform in the Land and the Church 
Laws ; Civil-Service Reform ; Education ; Conclusion. — In one 
direction, however, there had been no advance. Following the 
example of Scotland (§ 562), Ireland was politically united to Great 
Britain (§609) ; at the beginning of the century when the first Imperial 
Parliament met (1801), but long after the Irish Catholics had obtained 
the right of representation in Parliament, they were compelled to sub- 
mit to unjust land laws, and also to contribute to the' support of the 
Established (Protestant) Church in Ireland. Finally, through the 
efforts of Mr. Gladstone and others, this branch of the Church was 
disestablished (1869) (§ 641); later (1870 and 1881), important 
reforms were effected in the Irish land laws (§§ 642, 644). 

To supplement the great electoral reforms which had so widely 
extended the power of the popular vote, two other measures were now 
carried. One was that of Civil-Service Reform (1870), which opened 
all clerkships and similar positions in the gift of the Government to 
the free competition of candidates, without regard to their political 
opinions (§ 648). This did away with most of that demoralizing 
system of favoritism which makes government offices the spoils by 
which successful political parties reward "little men for little 
services." The " secret ballot," another measure of great importance, 
followed (1872) (§648). 

The same year (1870) England, chiefly through Mr. Forster's 
efforts, took up the second measure, the question of national educa- 
tion. The conviction gained ground that if the working classes are 
to vote, then they must not be allowed to remain in ignorance — the 
nation declared " we must educate our future masters." In this spirit 
a system of elementary government schools was established, which 
gives instruction to tens of thousands of children who hitherto were 
forced to grow up without its advantages (§ 641). These schools are 
not yet wholly free, although the legislation of 1 891-1894 practically 
puts most of them on that basis. 

England now has a strong and broad foundation of political 
suffrage and national education. 

The celebration of the late Queen's "Diamond Jubilee" in 1897 
seemed to point toward the closer union of the English colonies with 
the mother-country. Such an " imperial federation " would, of course, 
give the British Empire new meaning and new power (§ 656). 

Under King Edward VII England stands a monarchy in name, 
but a republic in fact ; a sovereign reigns, but the people rule. The 
future is in their hands. 



CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS 

Abstract of the Articles of Magna Carta (1215). — !. "The Church of England 
shall be free, and have her whole rights, and her liberties inviolable." The freedom of elec- 
tions of ecclesiastics by the Church is confirmed. 2-8. Feudal rights guaranteed, and abuses 
remedied. 9-1 1. Treatment of debtors alleviated. 12. " No scutage or aid [excej>t the three 
customary feudal aids] shall be imposed in our kingdom, imless by the Co7Jimon Cotmcil 
o/thereahn.^^^ 13. London, and all towns, to have their ancient liberties. 14. The King 
binds hirnself to summon the Comtnon Council 0/ the reabn respecting the assessifig of an 
aid {except as provided in 12) or a scutage?- 15, 16. Guarantee of feudal rights to tenants. 
17-19. Provisions respecting holding certain courts. 20, 21. Of arnercajnetits. They are 
. to be proportiofiate to the offe7ice, and itnposed according to the oath of honest men in 
the neighborhood. No amercement to toiich the necessary means of stibsistence of a 
free man, the merchandise of a m.erchant, or the agricultural tools of a villein ; earls 
and barons to be amerced by their eqtials. 23-34. Miscellaneous, minor articles. 
35. Weights and measures to be uniform. 36. Nothing shall be given or taken, for the 
futtire, for the Writ of Inquisition of life or limb, but it shall be freely granted, and not 
denied.^ 37,38. Provisions respecting land-tenure and trials at law. 39. "No freeman 

SHALL BE TAKEN OR IMPRISONED, OR DISSEIZED, OR OUTLAWED, OR BANISHED, OR ANY 
WAYS DESTROYED, NOR WILL WE PASS UPON HIM, NOR WILL WE SEND UPON HIM, UNLESS BY 
THE LAWFUL JUDGMENT OF HIS PEERS, OR BY THE LAW OF THE LAND." 40. " We WILL 
SELL TO NO MAN, WE WILL NOT DENY TO ANY MAN, EITHER JUSTICE OR RIGHT." 41, 42. PrO- 

visions respecting merchants, and freedom of entering and quitting the realm, except in war 
time. 43-46. Minor provisions. 47, 48. Provisions disafforesting all forests seized by Jchn, 
and guaranteeing forest rights to subjects. 49-60. Various minor provisions. 62. Provision 
for carrying out the charter by the barons in case the King fails in the performance of his 
agreement. 63. The freedom of the Church reaffirmed. Every one in the kingdom to have 
and hold his liberties and rights. 

" Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above named, and many others, 
in the meadow called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 
17th of our reign." [Here is appended the King's seal.] 

Conflrmation of the Charters by Edward I (1297), — In 1297 Edward I confirmed 
Magna Carta and the Forest Charter granted by Henry III in 1217 by letters patent. The 
document consists of seven articles, of which the following, namely, the sixth and seventh, 
are the most important. 

_ 6. Moreover we have granted for us and our heirs, as well to archbishops, bishops, abbots, 
priors, and other folk of holy Church, as also to earls, barons, and to all the commonalty of 
the land, thdXfor no business from henceforth -will we take-stich manner of aids, tasks, nor 
prises but by_ the common consent of the realm, and for the common profit thereof, saving 
the ancient aids and prises due and accustomed. 

_ 7. And for so much as the more part of the commonalty of the realm find themselves sore 
grieved with the maletote {i.e., an unjust tax or duty] of wools, that is to wit, a toll of forty 
shillings for every sack of wool, and have made petition to us to release the same ; we, at 
their requests, have clearly released it, and have granted for us and our heirs that we shall 
not take such thing nor any other without their comm.on assent and good will ; saving to us 
and our heirs the custom of wools, skins, and leather, granted before by the commonalty 
aforesaid. In witness of which things we have caused these our letters to be made patents. 
Witness Edward our son, at London, the loth day of October, the five-and-twentieth of our 
reign. 

And be it remembered that this same Charter, in the same terms, word for word, was 
sealed in Flanders under the King's Great Seal, that is to say, at Ghent, the 5th day of Novem- 
ber, in the 25th year of the reign of our aforesaid Lord the King, and sent into England. 

THE PETITION OF RIGHT 

June 7, 1628 

The Petition exhibited to His Majesty by the Lords Spirittcal and Temporal, and 
Conimo7is hi this present Parliame7it assembled, concerning divers Rights and Lib- 
erties of the Subjects, with the King^s Majesty^ s Royal A nswer thereunto in full 
Parliavtent. 

To The King's Most Excellent Majesty : Humbly show unto our Sovereign Lord 
the King, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in Parliament assembled, that 
whereas it is declared and enacted by a statute made in the time of the reign of King Edward 

1 These important articles were omitted when Mag-na Carta was reissued in 1216 by Henry III. Stubbs 
says they were never restored ; but Edward I, in his Confirmation of the Charters, seems to reaffirm them. 
See the Confirmation ; see also Gneist's Eng. Const., II, 9. 

2 This article is regarded by some authorities as the prototype of the statute of Habeas Corpus : others 
consider that it is implied in Articles 39-40. 



XXX LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

the First, commonly called Statutum de Tallagio non concedendo} that no tallage [here, 
a tax levied by the King upon the lands of the crown, and upon all royal towns] or aid shall 
be laid or levied by the King or his heirs in this realm, without the goodwill and assent of 
the Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, Barons, Knights, Burgesses, and other the freemen of the 
commonalty of this realm : and by authority of Parliament holden in the five and twentieth 
year of the reign of King Edward the Third, it is declared and enacted, that from thenceforth 
no person shall be compelled to make any loans to the King against his will, because such 
loans were against reason and the franchise of the land ; and by other laws of this realm it is 
provided, that none should be charged by any charge or imposition, called a Benevolence, or 
by such like charge, by which the statutes before-mentioned, and other the good laws and 
statutes of this realm, your subjects have inherited this freedom, that they should not be 
compelled to contribute to any tax, tallage, aid, or other like charge, not set by common 
consent in Parliament. ,. , , „ . . . , 

Yet nevertheless, of late divers commissions directed to sundry Commissioners in several 
counties with instructions have issued ; by means whereof your people have been in divers 
places assembled, and required to lend certain sums of money unto your Majesty, and many 
of them upon their refusal so to do, have had an oath administered unto them, not warrantable 
by the laws or statutes of this realm, and have been constrained to become bound to make 
appearance and give attendance before your Privy Council, and in other places, and others of 
them have been therefore imprisoned, confined, and sundry other ways molested and dis- 
quieted : and divers other charges have been laid and levied upon your people in several 
counties, by Lords Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Commissioners for Musters, Justices 
of Peace and others, by command or direction from your Majesty or your Privy Council, 
against the laws and free customs of this realm: 

And where also by the statute called, " The Great Charter of the Liberties of England," 
it is declared and enacted, that no freeman may be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of ' 
his freeholds or Hberties, or his free customs, or be outlawed or exiled ; or in any manner 
destroyed, but by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land : 

And in the eight and twentieth year of the reign of King Edward the Third, it was 
declared and enacted by authority of Parliament, that no man of what estate or condition that 
he be, should be put out of his lands or tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disherited, 
nor put to death, without being brought to answer by due process of law : 

Nevertheless, against the tenor of the said statutes, and other the good laws and 
statutes of your realm, to that end provided, divers of your subjects have .of late been 
imprisoned without any cause showed, and when for their deliverance they were brought 
before your Justices, by your Majesty's writs of Habeas Corpus, there to undergo and 
receive as the Court should order, and their keepers commanded to certify the causes of 
their detainer ; no cause was certified, but that they were detained by your Majesty's special 
command, signified by the Lords of your Privy Council, and yet were returned back to 
several prisons, without being charged with anything to which they might make answer 
according to law: 

And whereas of late great companies of soldiers and mariners have been dispersed into 
divers counties of the realm, and the inhabitants against their wills have been compelled to 
receive them into their houses, and there to suffer them to sojourn, against the laws and 
customs of this realm, and to the great grievance and vexation of the people : 

And whereas also by authority of Parliament, in the 25th year of the reign of King Edward 
the Third, it is declared and enacted, that no man shall be forejudged of life or limb against 
the form of the Great Charter, and the law of the land : and by the said Great Charter and 
other the laws and statutes of this your realm, no man ought to be adjudged to death; but by 
the laws estabHshed in this your realm, either by the customs of the same realm or by Acts 
of Parliament : and whereas no offender of what kind soever is exempted from the proceedings 
to be used, and punishments to be inflicted by the laws and statutes of this your realm : 
nevertheless of late divers commissions under your Majesty's Great Seal have issued forth, 
by which certain persons have been assigned and appointed Commissioners with power and 
authority to proceed within the land, according to the justice of martial law against such 
soldiers and mariners, or other dissolute persons joining with them, as should commit any 
murder, robbery, felony, mutiny, or other outrage or misdemeanour whatsoever, and by such 
summary course and order, as is agreeable to martial law, and is used in armies in time of 
war, to proceed to the trial and condemnation of such offenders, and them to cause to be 
executed and put to death, according to the law martial : 

By pretext whereof, some of your Majesty's subjects have been by some of the said Com- 
missioners put to death, when and where, if by the laws and statutes of the land they had 
deserved death, by the same laws and statutes also they might, and by no other ought to 
have been, adjudged and executed. 

1 A Statute concerning Tallag^e not granted by Parliament. This is now held not to have been a 
statute. See Gardiner's Documents of the Puritan Revolution, page i. It is considered by Stubbs 
an unauthorized and imperfect abstract of Edward I's Confirmation of the Cliarters — which see. 



CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS XXXI 



And also sundry grievous offenders by colour thereof, claiming an exemption, have 
escaped the punishments due to them by the laws and statutes of this your realm, by reason 
that divers of your officers and ministers of justice have unjustly refused, or forborne to 
proceed against such offenders according to the same laws and statutes, upon pretence 
that the said offenders were punishable only by martial law, and by authority of such com- 
missions as aforesaid, which commissions, and all other of like nature, are wholly and directly 
contrary to the said laws and statutes of this your realm : 

They do therefore humbly pray yoitr Most Excellent Majesty, that no man hereafter 
be compelled to make or yield any gift, loan, betievolence, tax, or siich like charge, with- 
out comm.on consent by Act of Parlianiejit ; aiid that tiofie be called to make answer, or 
take such oath, or to give attendafice, or be confuted, or otherwise molested or disquieted 
concertting the sa7}ie, or for refisal thereof; and that no freeman, in any stich maniter 
as is before-mentioned, be imprisoned or detained; and that your Majesty will be pleased 
to remove the said soldiers and mariners, a7id that your people may 7iot be so burdened 
in tim.e to come ; and that the foresaid cominissio7is for proceeding by viartial lazu may 
be revoked and annulled ; and that hereafter no co7nmissions of like natitre itzay isstce 
forth to any persofi or persons whatsoever, to be executed as aforesaid, lest by colour of 
thein a7iy of yojir Majesty^s subjects be destroyed or ptit to death, contrary to tfie laws 
and franchise of the land. 

All which they most humbly pray of your Most Excellent Majesty, as their rights and 
liberties according to the laws and statutes of this realm : and that your Majesty would also 
vouchsafe to declare, that the awards, doings, and proceedings to the prejudice of your people, 
in any of the premises, shall not be drawn hereafter into consequence or example : and that 
your Majesty would be also graciously pleased, for the further comfort and safety of your 
people, to declare your royal will and pleasure, that in the things aforesaid all your officers 
and ministers shall serve you, according to the laws and statutes of this realm, as they tender 
the honour of your Majesty, and the prosperity of this kingdom. 

[Which Petition being read the 2d of June, 1628, the King gave the following evasive and 
unsatisfactory answer, instead of the usual one, given below.] 

The King willeth that right be done according to the laws and customs of the realm : and 
that the statutes be put in due execution, that his subjects may have no cause to complain of 
any wrong or oppressions, contrary to their just rights and liberties, to the preservation 
whereof he holds himself as well obliged as of his prerogative. 

On June 7 the King decided to make answer in the accustomed form. Soil droit fait 
co7nme est desire. [Equivalent to the form of royal assent, " Le roi (or la reine) le veult." 
See page 373, note i. On the Petition of Right, see Hallam and compare Gardiner's 
" England '* ; and his " Documents of the Puritan Revolution."] 

The Bill of Rights (1689). — This Bill consists of thirteen Articles, of which the fol- 
lowing is an abstract. It begins by stating that '^Whereas the late Ki7ig fa7nes II, by the 
advice of divers evil coznisellors, j'udges, a7id mi7iistcrs e77iployed by hi77i, did e7ideavor 
to subvert and extirpate the Protesta7it religion, and the laws a7id liberties of this King- 
dom :" I. By dispensing with and suspending the laws without consent of Parliament. 2. By 
prosecuting worthy bishops for humbly petitioning him to be excused for concurring in the 
same assumed power. 3. By erecting a High Commissioa Court. 4. By levying money 
without consent of Parliament. 5. By keeping a standing army in time of peace without 
consent of Parliament. 6. By disarming Protestants and arming Papists. 7. By violating 
the freedom of elections. 8. By arbitrary and illegal prosecutions, g. By putting corrupt 
and unqualified persons on juries. 10. By requiring excessive bail. 11. By imposing exces- 
sive fines and cruel punishments. 12. By granting fines and forfeiture against persons before 
their conviction . 

It is then declared that " the late King James the Second having abdicated the govern- 
ment, and the throne being thereby vacant," therefore the Prince of Orange (" whom it hath 
pleased Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering their kingdom from 
Popery and arbitrary power") did by the advice of " the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 
divers principal persons of the Commons" summon a Convention Parliament. 

This Convention Parliament declares, that the acts above enumerated are contrary to law. 
They then bestow the Crown on William and Mary — the sole regal power to be vested only 
in the Prince of Orange — and provide that after the decease of William and Mary the 
Crown shall descend " to the heirs of the body of the said Princess; and, for default of such 
issue, to the Princess Anne of Denmark ^ and the heirs of her body ; and for default of such 
issue, to the heirs of the body of the said Prince of Orange." 

Here follow new oaths of allegiance and supremacy in lieu of those formerly required. 

The subsequent articles are as follows: IV. Recites the acceptance of the Crown by 
William and Mary. V. The Convention Parliament to provide for " the settlement of the 

1 The Princess Anne, sister of the Princess Mary, married Prince George of Denmark in 1683; hence 
she is here styled " the Princess of Denmark." 



xxxii LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

religion, laws and liberties of the Kingdom." VI. All the clauses in the Bill of Rights are 
"the true, ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this Kingdom." 
VII. Recognition and declaration of William and Mary as King and Queen. VIII. _ Repeti- 
tion of the settlement of the Crown and limitations of the succession. IX. Exclusion from 
the Crown of all persons holding communion with the " Church of Rome" or who " profess 
the Popish religion" or who "shall marry a Papist." X. Every King or Queen hereafter 
succeeding to the Crown to assent to the Act \j..e. Disabling Act of 1678 (§ 530)] "disabling 
Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament." XI. The King and Queen assent 
to all the articles of the Bill of Rights. XII. The Dispensing Power (§ 540) abolished. 
XIII. Exception made in favor of charters, grants, and pardons made before October 23, 1689. 

The Act of Settlement (1700-1701).^ — Excludes Roman Catholics from succession to 
the Crown; and declares that if a Roman Catholic obtains the Crown, "the people of these 
realms shall be and are thereby absolved of their allegiance." Settles the Crown on the 
Electress Sophia,^ and " the heirs of her body being Protestants." Requires the sovereign to 
join in communion with the Church of England. No war to be undertaken in defence of any 
territories not belonging to the English Crown except with the consent of Parliament. Judges 
to hold their ofifice during good behavior. No pardon by the Crown to be pleadable against 
an impeachment by the House of Commons. (See § 549.) 

MISCELLANEOUS ACTS AND LAWS 

I. Bill of Attainder. — This was a bill (which might in itself decree sentence of death) 
passed by Parliament, by which, originally, the blood of a person held to be convicted of 
treason or felony was declared to be attainted or corrupted so that his power to inherit, trans- 
mit, or hold property was destroyed. After Henry VIII's reign the law was modified so as. 
not to work "corruption of blood" in the case of new felonies. Under the Stuarts, Bills of 
Attainder were generally brought only in cases where the Commons believed that impeach- 
ment would fail, — as in the cases of Strafford and Laud. It should be noticed that in an 
Impeachment the Commons bring the accusation, and the Lords alone act as judges ; but that 
in a Bill of Attainder the Commons — that is, the accusers — themselves act as judges, as well 
as the Lords. 

II. Statute of Praemunire (1393). — This statute was enacted to check the power 
claimed by the Pope in England in cases which interfered with power claimed by the King, 
as in appeals made to the Court of Rome respecting church matters, over which the King^s 
court had jurisdiction. The statute received its name from the writ served on the party vvho 
had broken the law: '■^ PrcBinunire facias A. B."; that is, " Cause A. B. to be forewarned" 
that he appear before us to answer the contempt with which he stands charged. Henry VIII 
made use of this statute in order to compel the clergy to accept his supremacy over the 
English Church. (See §§ 317, 398, 400.) 

III. Habeas Corpus Act (1679). — The name of this celebrated statute is derived from 
its referring to the opening words of the writ : ^^ Habeas Corpus ad subjiciendum'''' (see pa^e 
273, note i). Sir James Mackintosh declares that the essence of the statute is contained m 
clauses 39, 40 of Magna Carta — which see. The right to Habeas Corpus was conceded by 
the Petition of Right and also by the Statute of 1640. But in order to better secure the liberty 
of the subject and for prevention of imprisonments beyond the seas, the Habeas Corpus Act 
of 1679 was enacted, regulating the issue and return of writs of Habeas Corpus. 

The principal provisions of the Act are: i. Jailers (except in cases of commitment for 
treason or felony) must within three da^'S of the reception of the writ produce the prisoner in 
court, unless the court is at a distance, when the time may be extended to twenty days at the 
most. 2. A jailer, refusing to do this, forfeits ^100 for the first offence, and ;^2oo for the 
second. 3. No one set at liberty upon any Habeas Corpus to be re-committed for the same 
offence except by the court having jurisdiction of the case. 4. The Act not to apply to cases 
of debt. 

IV. The Constitutions of Clarendon (1164). — These measures (§216), says Bishop 
Stubbs, were "really a part of a great scheme of administrative reform." They were drawn 
up by a committee of bishops and barons, with the Justiciar or Chief Minister at the head. 
The object of the Constitutions was "to assert the supremacy of the State over clergy and 
laity alike." They limited the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts ; they established a more 
uniform system of justice ; and, in certain cases, they provided for a kind of jury trial. (See 
Stubbs' Constitutional History, I, 525 ; or, for a brief abstract of the Constitutions, see Acland 
and Ransome's Political History, page 24.) 

1 This act, says Taswell-Langmead, is " the Title Deed of the reigning Dynasty, and a veritable 
original contract between the Crown and the People." 

2 The Electress Sophia was the granddaughter of James I ; she married the Elector of Hanover, and 
became mother of George I. See genealogical table of Descent of the English Sovereigns in the Appendix, 
page xli. 



SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH 
HISTORY 1 

[The * marks the most important dates.] 



I. The Prehistoric Period 

The Rough-Stone Age. 

The Polished-Stone Age. 

Age of Bronze begins, 1500 b.c. ? 

II. The Roman Period, 55, 54 b.c ; 

A.D. 43-410 

*Cs!sar lands in Britain, 55 and 54 b.c. 

Claudius begins the conquest of Britain, 
A.D. 43. 

Revolt of Boadicea, 61. 

Agricola builds a line of forts, 81. 

Hadrian's Wall, 121? 
*Britain abandoned by the Romans, 410. 

III. The Saxon, or Early English, 
Period, 449-1013 ; 1042-1066 

*The Jutes settle in Kent, 449. 
Ella and Cissa found the kingdom of Sussex, 

477. 
Cerdic founds the kingdom of Wessex, 495. 
The Angles settle Northumbria, 547. 
*Landing of Augustine ; conversion of Kent, 
597. 
Church council at Whitby, 664. 
First landing of the Danes in England, 789. 
*Egbert (King of Wessex, conquers a large 
part of the country (827), and takes the 
title of " King of the English"), 828. 
Alfred the Great, 871. 
*Treaty of Wedmore, 878. 
Invasion by the Danes — Danegeld paid by 
decree of the Witan for the first time, 
991. 

IV. Danish Period, 1013-1042 

Sweyn, the Dane, is acknowledged king of 

the English, 1013. 
Canute, the Dane, chosen king, 1017. 



Divides England into four sreat earldoms, 

1017. 
Godwin made Earl of Wessex, 1020. 

V. The Saxon, or Early English, 
Period (restored), 1042-1066 

Edward the Confessor, 1042. 
Harold, last of the Saxon kings, 1066. 
William of Normandy lands in England; 

battle of Senlac, or Hastings — Harold 

killed — Oct. 14, 1066. 

VI. The Norman Period, 1066-1154 

William (crowned in Westminster Abbey 
on Christmas Day), 1066. 

Norman system of feudal land tenure begins 
to be regularly organized, 1066? 
*William grants a charter to London, 1066? 

William harries the North, 1069. 

Reorganizes the Church, 1070. 

Establishes separate ecclesiastical courts, 
1070? 

The English, under Hereward, finally de- 
feated at Ely, 1071. 

William invades Scotland, and compels the 
King to do him homage, 1072. 

William refuses to become subject to the 
Pope, 1076. 
*Domesday Book completed, 1086. — 
Reports : Tenants-in-chief (barons, 
bishops, abbots), about 1500; Under- 
tenants (chiefly English dispossessed of 
their estates), about 8000 ; Yeomen, 
north of Watling St., about 35,000; 
Yeomen, sunk to a condition border- 
ing on serfdom (south of Watling St.), 
about go,ooo; Villeins, or serfs, about 
109,000; Slaves, about 25,000; Citizens, 
monks, nuns, priests, etc., about 1,73 2,- 
000 ; Total population, about 2,000,000. 



1 Many early dates are approximate only. 



XXxiv LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



*A11 the landholders of England swear alle- 
giance to William, at Salisbury, 1086. 
William Rufus, 1087. 
Suppresses rebellion of the barons, 1088. 
Makes war on Normandy, 1090, 
Quarrel with Anselm — robs Church of its 

revenue, 1094. 
Suppresses second rebellion of the barons, 

1095. 
Henry I, 1100. 
*First charter of liberties, 1100. 
Quarrels with Anselm about investitures, 

1103. 
Battle of Tinchebrai — Normandy con- 
quered, 1106. 
Henry and Anselm come to terms, 1106. 
Stephen, 1135. 
Charter of liberties, 1135. 
Matilda, d. of Henry I, claims the crown, 

1135. 
Battle of the Standard, 1138. 
Civil war begins, 1139. 
Matilda's son (Henry II) marries Eleanor 
of France, and acquires her provinces, 
1152. 
Treaty of Wallingford, 1153. 

VII. The Angevin, or Plantag- 
ENET, Period, 1154-1399 

Henry II, 1154. 

*Merchant and craft guilds become promi- 
nent, 1154? 
*Payment of scutage regularly established, 

1160. 
*Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164. 

Quarrel with Becket, 1164. 
*Assize of Clarendon, 1166. 

Becket murdered, 1170. 
*Partial conquest of Ireland, 1171. 
Henry's wife and sons rebel, 1173. 
Henry does penance at Becket's tomb, 1174. 
Rebellion of barons suppressed, 1174. 
Assize of Northampton (divides England 

into judicial circuits), 1176. 
Assize of Arms (regulates national militia), 

1181. 
Henry's sons again rebel, 1183. 
*Saladin Tithe (first tax on personal prop- 
erty), 1188. 
*Great Assize (substitutes trial by jury in 
civil cases for trial by battle), 1188 ? 
Richard I, 1189. 

Richard persecutes the Jews, sells offices, 
extorts money, 1189. 
*Richard grants many town charters, 1189, 
Joins the third crusade, 1190. 



Richard taken prisoner, 1192. 
England ransoms the King, 1194, 
John, 1199. 

*Loss of Normandy, 1204. 
John refuses to receive Archbishop Lang- 
ton, 1208. 
The kingdom placed under an interdict, 

1208. 
The Pope excommunicates John, 1209. 
John becomes the Pope's vassal, 1213. 
*The meeting at St. Albans (first representa- 
tive assembly on record) to consider 
measures of reform, 1213. 
Battle of Bouvines, 1214. 
*The Great Charter (Magna Carta), June 15, 
1215. 
The Pope refuses to recognize the Great 
Charter, and excommunicates the lead- 
ers of the barons, 1215. 
The barons invite Louis, son of the King of 

France, to take the crown, 1215. 
War between John and the barons, 1216. 
Henry III, 1216. 
The Mendicant Friars land in England, 

1221. 
*Parliament of Merton rejects the Canon 
Law, 1236. 
"The Mad Parliament" draws up the Pro- 
visions of Oxford, 1258. . 
The Barons' War ; battle of Lewes, 1264. 
*Waiter de Merton founds Merton College, 
Oxford (beginning of the collegiate sys- 
tem), 1264. 
*Rise of the House of Commons under Earl 
Simon de Montfort, 1265. 
Battle of Evesham; Earl Simon killed, 

1265. 
Courts of Exchequer, King's Bench, and 
Common Pleas fully organized, 1272? 
Edward I, 1272. 
*Statute of Mortmain, 1279. 
Conquest of Wales, 1282, 
Statute of Winchester, 1285, 
*The Statute of De Donis, or Entail, 1285, 
The Jews expelled from England, 1290, 
Statute of Quia Emptores (increases num- 
ber of small freeholders holding directly 
from the Crown or great lords), 1290, 
Alliance between Scotland and France 
against England, 1294. 
*First complete or model Parliament (Lords, 
Clergy, and Commons : subsequently 
the clergy usually met by themselves 
in convocation), 1295. 
War with Scotland, 1296-1296. 
Edward seizes the wool of the merchants 
(Maltote, or " evil tax"), 1297. 



PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY XXXV 



*Edward confirms the charters, 1297. 
Consent of Parliament established as neces- 
sary to taxation (by the confirmation of 
the charters), 1297. 
Renewed war with Scotland ; execution of 
Wallace; defeat of Bruce, 1303-1306. 
Edward II, 1307. 
Gaveston dismissed, 1308. 
The Lords Ordainers (to regulate the king's 

household), 1310. 
Gaveston executed, 1312. 
Battle of Bannockbum, 1314. 
*House of Commons gains a share in legisla- 
tion, 1322. 
Roger Mortimer and the Queen conspire 

against Edward, 1326. 
The Despensers (King's favorites) hanged, 

1326. 
The King deposed and murdered, 1327. 
Edward III, 1327. 

Independence of Scotland recognized, 1328. 

*House of Commons (Knights of the Shire 

and Commons united) begin to sit by 

themselves as a distinct body, 1333. 

Edward takes the title of " King of France," 

1337. 

*Beginningof the Hundred Years' War with 

France, 1338 (see 1453). 
*Woollen manufacture introduced from Flan- 
ders, 1339 ? 
*Victory of Crecy (cannon first used), 1346. 
*Capture of Calais, 1347. 

Court of Chancery finally established, 1348. 
*The Black Death, 1349. 
*First Statute of Laborers (regulates price 
of labor, etc.), 1349. 
First Statute of Provisors (limits power of 

Pope in England), 1351. 
First Statute of Praemunire (limits power of 
the Pope in England), 1353 (see 1393) . 
*Victory of Poitiers, 1356. 
*Treaty of Bretigny, 1360. 
*The House of Commons gains the right of 
impeaching the king's ministers, 1376. 
*Wycliffe begins the Reformation (rise of 
the Lollards), 1377? 
Richard II, 1377. 
*Wycliffe translates the Bible, 1378? 
♦Peasant revolts led by Wat Tyler, 1381. 
*The Great Statute of Praemunire (see 

1353), 1393. 
*Chaucer begins the " Canterbury Tales," 
1390? 
Richard deposed (and, later, murdered), 
1399. 
♦Parliament sets aside the order of succession 
and chooses Henry king, 1399. 



VIII. The Lancastrian Period 
(Red Rose), 1399-1461 

Henry IV, 1399. 
Rebellion of Glendower, 1400. 
*First statute punishing heretics with death, 
1401. 
First martyr (William Sawtrey) under the 

new law, 1401. 
Revolt of the Percies; battle of Shrews- 
bury, 1403. 
*The House of Commons obtains the ex- 
clusive right to make grants of money, 
1407. 
Henry V, 1413. 
♦Statutes to be made by Parliament without 
alteration by the king, 1414. 
Lollard conspiracies, 1414-1415. 
♦Battle of Agincourt, 1415. 
♦Treaty of Troyes, 1420. 
Henry VI, 1422 (crowned King of England 

and France). 
Siege of Orleans, 1428. 
♦County suffrage restricted, 1430. 

Joan of Arc burned, 1431. 
♦Cade's insurrection, 1450. 
♦End of the Hundred Years' War ; loss of 

France, 1453 (see 1338). 
♦Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485. 
Henry dethroned, 1461. 

XI. The Yorkist Period (White 

Rose), 1461-1485 

Edward IV, 1461. 

Queen Margaret's son killed at Tewkesbury 

and the Queen imprisoned, 1471. 
Edward exacts " benevolences," 1475. 
♦Caxton prints the first book in England, 

1477. 
Edward V, 1483. 
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, appointed 

Protector, 1483. 
Murders Edward in the Tower (?), 1483. 
Richard III, 1483. 
Suppresses rebellion, 1483. 
"Benevolences" abolished, 1484 (see 

1475). 
♦Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485. 

X. The Tudor Period, 1485-1603 

Henry VII, 1485. 

Henry marries Elizabeth of York, thus 
uniting the houses of Lancaster and 
York, 1486. 

Court of Star-Chamber established, 1487. 



XXXVl 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Statutes of Livery and Maintenance en- 
forced by Empson and Dudley, 1487. 

Poynings' Act (puts an end to the legisla- 
tive power of the English colony in 
Ireland), 1494. 
*The Cabots discover the American conti- 
nent, 1497. 

Henry VIII, 1609. 
*Beginning of the "New Learning" (Colet, 
Erasmus, More), 1609. 

Battle of Flodden, 1513. 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1520. 

The Pope confers on Henry the title of 
"Defender of the Faith," 1521. 

Henry begins divorce suit against Catharine 
of Aragon, 1529. 

Fall of Wolsey, 1529. 

Cranmer obtains the opinions of the Uni- 
versities, 1530. 

Clergy compelled to acknowledge Henry 
the Head of the English Church, 1631. 

Appeals to Rome forbidden, 1532. 

Henry privately marries Anne Boleyn, 
1533. 

Cranmer pronounces Henry's marriage with 
Catharine void, 1533. 
*Act of Supremacy declares the king Su- 
preme Head of the Church of England, 
1534. 

Fisher and More executed, 1535. 

England and Wales finally united, 1536. 
*Dissolution of the monasteries begins, 1536. 

The Bible translated and placed in the 
churches, 1536. 

Insurrection in the North (" Pilgrimage of 
Grace"), 1637. 

The king's Proclamations to have the force 
of law, 1639 (repealed, 1547). 

The abbots cease to sit in the House of 
Lords, 1539. 

The " Six Articles," 1639. 

Edward VI, 1547. 

Duke of Somerset made Protector during 
Edward's minority, 1547. 

Battle of Pinkie, 1547. 

First English Prayer-Book, 1549. 
*Act of Uniformity (virtually establishes 
Protestantism), 1549. 

The Forty-Two Articles of Religion (after- 
ward reduced to thirty-nine), 1652. 

Second Act of Uniformity, and Second 
Prayer-Book, 1662. 
*Many Protestant grammar schools and 
several hospitals founded by the King, 
1552-1553. 

Mary, 1553. 

Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen, 1663. 



Edward's Laws, establishing Protestantism 

(repealed, 1553). 
Lady Jane Grey executed, 1554. 
Mary marries Philip II of Spain, 1554. 
Statutes against the Pope (since 1629) 

repealed ; Catholicism reestablished, 

1564. 
Severe persecution of the Protestants 

(Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer burned), 

1666-1556. 
Loss of Calais, 1558. 
Elizabeth, 1558. 
Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity reen V 

acted (Protestantism restored), 1559. i 
The Thirty-Nine Articles established, 156^ ^ 
The English Puritans begin to be promi S 

nent, 1671? >1 

High Commission Court established, 1583. J 

*Raleigh attempts to colonize Virginia. • 

1584. 
*Shakespeare at the Blackfriars and Globe 

Theatres in London, 1686? 
Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1587. 
*Defeat of the Armada, 1688. 
Establishment of the East India Company, 

1600. 
First regular Poor Law, 1601. 
Completion of the conquest of Ireland, 

1603. 

XI. The Stuart Period (First 
Part), 1603-1649 

James I, 1603 (King of Scotland arlc^ 

England). 
The Millenary Petition, 1603. 
Hampton Court Conference, 1604. 
James proclaims the Divine Right of Kings, . 

1604? 
The Gunpowder Plot, 1605. 
Severe laws against the Catholics, 1606. 
*Colony founded at Jamestown, Virginia, 
1607. 
Protestant colonies planted in Ulster, Ire- 
land, 1611. 
*Authorized translation of the Bible com- 
pleted, 1611. 
Execution of Raleigh, 1618. 
*Bacon publishes his New System of Phil- 
osophy, 1620. 
*Harvey discovers the circulation of the 

blood, 1620. 
*The Pilgrims land at Plymouth, New Eng- 
land, 1620. 
Impeachment of Lord Bacon, 1621. 
The Commons protest against the King's 
violation of their liberties, 1621. 



PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY XXXVU 



James tears up the protest, 1621. 

Imprisons members of Parliament, 1622. 
*First regular newspaper in England, 1622. 

Charles I, 1625. 

Parliament demands reforms, and refuses 
grants of money unless they are con- 
ceded, 1625. 
*The Petition of Right, 1628. 

Sir John Eliot sent to the Tower, 1629. 

Wentworth (Strafford) and Laud with the 
policy of " Thorough," 1635. 

■^lampden refuses to pay ship money, 1637. 

The King tries to force a liturgy on the 
, Scottish Church, 1637. 

Jhe " Short Parliament," 1640. 

*The "Long Parliament" meets, 1640. 

The Triennial Act (for summoning a new 
Parliament every three years), 1641. 

, Parliament resolves not to be adjourned or 
dissolved except by its own consent, 
1641,. 

Abolishes the Star-Chamber and the High 
Commission Courts, 1641. 

Passes statutes against ship money and 
■ other illegal measures of the King, 
1641. 

The Root and Branch Bill, 1641. 

The Grand Remonstrance, 1641. 

The King attempts to seize the five mem- 
bers, 1642. 
*Beginning of the Civil War (battle of Edge- 
hill), 1642. 

Cromwell organizes his " Ironsides," 1642. 

^ arliament accepts the Solemn League and 
Covenant, 1643. 

The Excise Act, 1643. 

Battle of Marston Moor, 1644. 

The Self-Denying Ordinance, 1644, 1645. 

The " New Model " army, 1645. 

Battle of Naseby, 1645. 

Pride's Purge, 1648. 

The Rump Parliament, 1648. 
♦Execution of the King, 1649. 

XIL The Commonwealth and Pro- 
tectorate Period, 1649-1660 

House of Lords abolished, 1649 (meets 

next, 1660). 
The Commonwealth, or Republic, declared, 

1649. 
Charles II proclaimed King of Scotland, 

1649. 
Many Cavaliers emigrate to Virginia, 1649 ? 
Cromwell's campaign in Ireland, 1649- 

1650. 
Battle of Dunbar, 1650. 



Battle of Worcester (flight of Charles II), 
1651. 

The Navigation Act (modified, 1823; re- 
pealed, 1849), 1651. 

War with the Dutch, 1652. 

Cromwell expels Parliament, 1653. 

"Barebone's Parliament," 1653. 

The Instrument of Government. 1653. 
*Cromwell, Protector, 1653. 

War with Spain, 1655. 

England divided into eleven military dis- 
tricts, 1655. 

The Humble Petition and Advice, 1657. 

Richard Cromwell, Protector, 1658. 

The army compels Richard to abdicate, 
1659. 

General Monk calls a " Free Parliament," 
1660. 

Cliarles II sends the Declaration of Breda, 
1660. 
*The Convention Parliament invites Cliarles 
II to return, 1660. 

Xin. The Stuart Period (Second 
Part), 1660-1714 

Charles II, 1660. 

Standing army established, 1660. 

Feudal dues and services abolished, 1660. 

Corporation Act, 1661 (repealed, 1828). 

Fourth Act of Uniformity, 1662. 

Presbyterian clergy driven out, 1662. 

Royal Society founded in London, 1662. 

Conventicle Act, 1664. 

Repeal (in form) of Triennial Act, 1664 
(see 1641). 

Seizure of New Amsterdam (New York), 
1664. 

War with the Dutch, 1665. 

The Plague in London, 1665. 

The Five-Mile Act, 1665. 

Great fire of London, 1666. 

The Dutch sail up the Thames, 1667. 

The Cabal comes into power, 1667. 
*Secret Treaty of Dover, 1670. 

The King robs the Exchequer, 1671. 

Declaration of Indulgence, 1673. 

The Test Act, 1673 (repealed, 1828). 
*The so-called "Popish Plot," 1678. 
*The Disabling Act (excludes Catholics), 

1678. 
*The Habeas Corpus Act passed, 1679. 

The Exclusion Bill introduced, 1679. 
*Rise of Whigs and Tories, 1680? 

The Rye-House Plot, 1683. 

Town charters revoked, 1684. 

James II, 1685. 



XXXVlll LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Monmouth's rebellion; battle of Sedge- 
moor, 1685. 

The Bloody Assizes, 1685. 
*Newton demonstrates the law of gravitation, 
1687. 

The Second Declaration of Indulgence, 
1687-1688. 

Imprisonment of the Seven Bishops ; trial 
and acquittal, 1688. 

Birth of Prince James, the so-called " Pre- 
tender," 1688. 

William of Orange invited to England,1688. 

Arrival of William ; his Declaration, 1688. 

Flight of James, 1688. 
. The " Convention Parliament," 1689. 

The Declaration of Right, 1689. 

William and Mary(Orange-Stuart), 1689. 

James II's Great Act of Attainder issued in 
Ireland, 1689. 

Siege of Londonderry, 1689. 
*Mutiny Bill passes, 1689. 
*Toleration Act, 1689. 
*Bill of Rights, 1689. 

Secession of the Non-Jurors, 1689. 
*Battle of the Boyne, 1690. 

Treaty of Limerick, 1691. 

Massacre of Glencoe, 1692. 

Battle of La Hogue, 1692. 
*Beginning of the National Debt, 1693. 
*Bank of England established, 1694. 

Triennial Act restored, 1694 (see 1664). 
*The press made free, 1695. 

Peace of Ryswick, 1697. 
*Act of Settlement, 1701. 

Anne, 1702 (last of the Stuart sovereigns). 

War with France, 1702. 

Great power of the Duchess of Marlborough, 
1702. 

High and Low Church parties, 1703. 

First daily newspaper in England, 1703. 
*Battle of Blenheim, 1704. 
^Gibraltar taken^ 1704. 
*Union of England and Scotland (Great 
Britain), 1707. 

Trial of Dr. Sacheverell, 1710. 

Mrs. Masham comes into power, 1711. 

Act against Occasional Conformity, 1711 
(repealed, 1718). 
*Treaty of Utrecht, 17^13. 

The Schism Act, 1714 (repealed, 1718). 

XIV. The Hanoverian Period, 
1714 TO THE Present Time 

George 1, 1714, 

Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, in favor of 
the "Old Pretender," 1715. 



Septennial Act, 1716. 
Introduction of inoculation for Smallpox, 
1717; (followed by vaccination in 
1796). 
*The South Sea Bubble, 1720. 
*Sir Roger Walpole, first Prime Minister, 

1721. 
*Modem cabinet system begins, 1721. 
George II, 1727. 
John Wesley — Rise of the Methodists, 

1739. 
War of " Jenkins' Ear," 1739. 
War of the Austrian Succession, 1741. 
Battle of Dettingen, 1743. 
Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, in favor of 

the "Young Pretender," 1745. 
The "Pretender" defeated at CuUoden, 

1746. 
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. 
Clive takes Arcot, 1751. 
Introduction of the New Style, 1752. 
*Clive wins the battle of Plassey; founda-' 
tion of England's Indian empire, 1757. 
*Victory of Quebec, 1759 (England gains 
Canada). 
George III, 1760. 

Beginning of the canal system, 1761. 
Canada ceded to Great Britain, 1763. 
Wilkes attacks the Government, 1763. 
*Stamp Act, 1765 (repealed, 1766). 
*Watt's steam engine, 1769-1785. 

Letters of "Junius," 1769. 
*Debates in Parliament begin to be reported 

regularly, 1771. 
*"The Boston Tea Party," 1773. 
The four " Intolerable Acts," 1774. 
♦Declaration of American Independence, 

1776. 
*Defeat of Burgoyne, 1777. 

Lord George Gordon riots, 1780. 
*Defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown, 1781. 

Poynings' Law repealed, 1782 (see 1494). 
♦Recognition of the independence of the 
United States, 1782, followed by De- 
finitive Treaty in 1783. 
Trial of Warren Hastings, 1788-1795. 
War with France, 1793. 
♦Vaccination introduced, 1796? 
Bank of England suspends payment, 1797. 
Battle of the Nile, 1798. 
Irish Rebellion, 1798. 
♦Union of Great Britain and Ireland, 1800. 
♦Battle of Trafalgar, 1805. 
Abolition of the slave trade, 1807, 
Luddite riots, 1811. 

George III becomes insane; Prince of 
Wales appointed regent, 1811, 



PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY XXXIX 



*First steamboat in Great Britain, 1812. 
*Second war with America, 1812. 
*Battle of Waterloo, 1815. 
The " Six Acts " (relating to seditious meet- 
ings, etc.), 1819. 
*First Atlantic steamship, 1819. 
George IV, 1820. 

Capital punishment greatly restricted, 
1824. 
*Repeal of the Corporation Act, 1828 (see 

1661). 
*Repeal of the Test Act, 1828 (see 1673). 
*Catholic emancipation, 1829. 
*Friction matches introduced, 1829? 
The new police, 1829. 
William IV, 1830. 
*Stephenson invents the first successful loco- 
motive (the "Rocket"), 1830. 
*Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester 

Railway, 1832. 
*Passags^of the Reform Bill, 1832. 
Party names of Liberal and Conservative 
begin to come into use, 1832. 
*Emancipation of slaves in British colonies, 
1833. 
First Factory Act (regulates the employ- 
ment of women and children), 1833. 
East India trade thrown open, 1833. 
New Poor Law, 1834. 
Municipal Corporation Act, 1835. 
Victoria, 1837. 
Criminal law reforms, 1837. 
The Opium War, 1839. 
*Penny postage established, 1840. 
China compelled to open a number of ports 
to trade, 1842. 
*Grove discovers the law of the indestructi- 
bility of force, 1842. 
Jews admitted to municipal offices, 1846. 
♦Famine in Ireland, 1846. 

Railway speculation and panic, 1846. 
*First telegraph line opened, 1846. 
*Repeal of the Com Laws ; beginning of free 

trade, 1846 (see 1360). 
*Ether begins to be used in surgery, 1846. 
Chartist agitation, 1848. 



Repeal of the Navigation Act, 1849 (see 
1651). 

*First "World's Fair," 1851. 

The Crimean War, 1854. 
*Rise of cheap newspapers, 1855. 

Right of search abandoned, 1856. 

The Indian Mutiny, 1857. 

Sovereignty of India given to the Crown, 
1858. 
*First Atlantic cable, 1858; relaid, 1866. 
*Jews admitted to Parliament, 1858. 
*Darwin publishes " The Origin of Species," 
1859. 

The Trent Affair, 1861. 
*Reform Act, extending the franchise, 1867 . 

Compulsory church rates abolished, 1868. 
♦Disestablishment of the Irish branch of the 

Church of England, 1869. 
♦Partial woman suffrage (to single women 
and widows who are householders), 
1869. 
♦Government ( " Board " ) schools estab- 
lished, 1870. 
♦Civil-service examinations established, 

1870. 
♦First Irish Land Bill, 1870. 
♦Religious tests in universities abolished, 

1871. 
♦The Ballot Act, 1872. 
♦Joseph Arch's Agricultural Union, 1872. 
♦Geneva Tribunal {Alaba7na case), 1872. 

The Queen made Empress of India, 1877. 
♦The Irish Land League, 1879. 
♦Second Irish Land Act, 1881. 

Suppression of the Land League, 1882. 
♦Reform Act (extending suffrage), 1884. 

The Queen's Jubilee, June 21, 1887. 

The Oaths Act, 1888. 
♦County Councils Act, 1888. 
♦Assisted Education Act, 1891. 
♦Parish Councils Act, 1894. 

The " Diamond Jubilee," June 22, 1897. 
♦War in South Africa, 1899-1901. 
♦Death of Queen Victoria, Jan. 22, 1901. 
♦Accession of Edward VII, 1901. 



xl DESCENT OF THE ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS FROM 
EGBERT TO EDWARD VII* 



I. Egbert (descended from Cerdic, 495), first " King of the English," 828-837 
2. Ethelwulf, 837-858 



3. Ethelbald, 

858-860 



Ethelbert, 

860-866 



5. Ethelred I, 6. Alfred, 
866-871 871- 



Edward I, 901-925 



Ethelstan, 

925-940 



II. Edwin, 

955-959 



i 

9. Edmund, 

940-946 



12. Edgar, 

959-975 



[5. Sweyn, the Dane, 1013 



10. Edred, 

946-955 



[7. Canute, 
1017-103S 



I 

1-901 



18. Harold I, * * 19. Hardicanute, 

103 5-1040 Richard I, 1040-1042 

Duke of Normandy 



13. Edward II, 

975-979 



j7^ 



16. Edmund II 

(Ironside), 
ioi6-roi6 

Edgar Atheling, 

grandson of Edmmid II 

[should have succeeded 

Harold II (No. 21)] 



Elgiva, ? 



20. Edward III, 

the Confessor, 1042-1066, 
second cousin of William 



14. Ethelred II, m. (2) Emma 



I*** 



Richard II, Duke 
of Normandy 



Godwin, Earl 
of Kent 



the Conqueror, m. Edith 



:^*^ This sign shows that the person over 
whose name it stands was not in the direct 
line of descent. 



21. Harold II, 

1 066- 1 066, slain 
at Hastings, 1066 

Robert, Duke of Normandy 



THE NORMAN KINGS 22. William the Conqueror, 
1066-1087, second cousin of 
Edward the Confessor (No. 2c 
m. Matilda of Flanders, a dire 
descendant of Alfred the Great (No 



I 

23. William II, 

1087-1100 



1 i 

1 24. Henry I, AdeJ: 
1100-1135 I 

I 25. Steph 

Maud, or of Bloii 
Matilda, m. 1135-11 
(2) Geoffrey 
Plantagenet, 
Count of Anjou 



THE HOUSE OF ANJOU $26. Henry II 



1x54-1189 



1 

27. Richard I Geoffrey 2 

(Coeur de Lion), | 

1 189-1 199 Arthur, mur- 

dered by John? 



. John (Lackland); 
1199-12 16 

29. Henry III, 

12 16-1272 



30. Edward I, 1272-1307 

I 

31. Edward II, 1307-1327 

I 

32. Edward III, 1327-1377, 
m. Philippa of Hainault 



* The heavy lines indicate the Saxon or Early English i 
Norman sovereigns with their successors. ^ 

t Henry I (No. 24) m. Matilda of Scotland, a descendant 
Edmund II (Ironside) (No. 16). 

J Henry II m. Eleanor of Aquitaine, the divorced queei., 
France, thereby acquiring large possessions in Southern Frar 



xli 



Edward, the 
Black Prince 



Lionel, Duke 
of Clarence 



John of Gaunt, 
Duke of Lancaster 



Edmund Langley, 
Duke of York 



53. Richard Philippa, m. Ed- 
[1, 1377-1399 niund Mortimer 

* Roger Mortimer 



HOUSE OF LANCASTER 

34.HenryIV. 1399-M13 John Beau- 
35. Henry V, fo^'t, Earl of 

_i4i3-J422^ m. Cath- 
arine of Valois, 



f Edmund Mortimer 



Anne Morti- 
mer, m. - 



Somerset tt | 

1 Richard, Earl 

1 / \ i-k~„ John Beau- of Cambridge, 

whom. (2) Owen fort, Duke m.AnneMor- 

VfLr^r . ofSomer- timer. (See 

"6°^_.l . set dotted li7ie.) 



* Richard II, before he was de- 
josed, had named Roger Mortimer 
IS his successor, but" Roger died 
jefore the King. 

t Edmund Mortimer, son of Rog- 
:r Mortimer, stood next in the order 
)f succession after Richard II, but 
lis claim was not allowed. He died 
1424. 



36. 

VI, 1422- 
1461, m. 
Margaret 
of Anjou 



Edmund 
Tudor, 
Earl of 
Rich- 
mond, m. Margaret 
Beaufort. 
(Seep. 172.) 



Edward, 
Prince of 
Wales, m. (?) 
Anne Neville 
who later m. 
Richard III 

(No. 39) 

HOUSE OF TUDOR | 
40. Henry VII, m. Elizabeth 
+ 1485-1509 of York 



Richard, Duke 
of York, d. 

1460 

h 



HOUSE OF YORK 

37. Edward 39. Rich 
IV, 146 

1483 



ard III, 

[483-1485, 
m. Anne 

Neville** 



r. Henry VIII, 1509-1547, 
n. (i) Catharine of Aragon, (2) 
^nne Boleyn, (3) Jane Seymour, 
4.) Anne of Cleves, (5) Catharine 
Howard, (6) Catherine Parr 



43- Mary (d. 

of i), 1553-1558, 

m. Philip II 

of Spain 



44. Eliza- 
beth (d. 

of 2), 1558- 
1603 



42. Edward 
VI (s. of 3), 
1547-1553 



Margaret Tudor, 
m. James (Stuart) 
IV, King of Scot- 
land 
I 
James 
(Stuart) V 



HOUSE OF STUART 



i 

46. Charles I, 

1625-164911 



§ Mary 
Queen of Scots, 
beheaded, 1587 

45. James (Stuart)' beheaded 
I of England, 
1603-1625 



Mary 
Charles Bran- 
don, Duke of 
Suffolk 

Frances Bran- 
don, m. Henry 
Grey, Duke of 
Suffolk 

Lady Jane Grey 
(m. Lord Dudley), 
■ ■ 554 



38. Edward V 
(murdered in 
the Tower by 
Richard HI?), 
483-1483 



Elizabeth, m. Frederick, Elector-Palatine 



Sophia, m. the Elector of Hanover 



Mary, m. William II 
of Orange 



7. Charles 48. James II, 

II, i66o- 1685-1688 

1685 I 

I I I 49- William III 

49. Mary, 50. Anne, James (the of Orange be- 
m. William 1702-1714 Old Pretend- came William 



Illof Or- 
nge, afterward 
l^illiam III of 
England 



er), b 
d. 1765 ^o 

Charles (the Young Pre- 
tender), b. 1720, d. 1788 



III of England, 
1689-1702 



HOUSE OF HANOVER 

51. George, Elector of 

Hanover, became George 

I of England, 1714-1727 

52. George II, 1727-1760 
I 

_ Frederick, Prince of Wales 
(died before coming to the throne) 



George III, 1760-1820 

I— 

54. George 
IV, 



1830 



830- 



X Henry VII (called Henrj^ of Richmond and Henry of Lan- 
ister) : by his marriage with Elizabeth of York, the rival claims 
f the houses of Lancaster and York were settled and the house 
f Tudor began. 

§ Mary Queen of Scots stood next in order of succession after 

lary (No. 43), provided Henry VIII's marriage with Catharine of Aragon (Mary's 
lother) was held not to have been dissolved. The Pope never recognized Henry's 
.vorce from Catharine, or his marriage with Anne Boleyn, and therefore supported 
lary Queen of Scots in her claim to the English crown after Mary's (43) death in 1558. 

** Richard III (No. 39) married Anne Neville, widow (?) of Edward, Prince of 
/ales (son of Henry VI), slain at Tewkesbury. -^ 

tt Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660. %% See p. 163. 



I 
55- Wil- 
liam IV. 



Edward, 
Duke of 



1837 Kent, d, 
1820 
I 
56. Victoria, 

1837-1901 

57. Edward VII, 
1901- 



A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS ON ENGLISH HISTORY 

[The * marks contemporary or early history.] 

]sj,B,_A selected list of twenty books especially adapted to the use of teachers and pupils, 
for reference and collateral reading, is given on this first page. It includes the 
names of publishers with prices. 



General Histories 

Gardiner, S. R. A Student's History of 
England, illustrated, 3 vols. Long- 
mans, N.Y. ($3.50); or bound in one 
very thick volume ($3.00). 

Smith, Goldwin. The United Kingdom, a 
Political History, 2 vols. Macmillan, 
N.Y. ($4.00). 

Bright, J. F. History of England, 4 vols. 
Longmans, N.Y. ($6.75). 

Green, J. R. A Short History of the 
English People, beautifully illustrated, 
4 vols. Harper & Bros. , N.Y. (;f 20.00). 

Brewer, J. S. The Student's Hume, i vol. 
Murray, London {js6d). 

Creighton, M. Epochs of English History, 
6 small vols, in one. Longmans, N.Y. 

($1.25). 

Knight, C. The Popular History of Eng- 
land, 9 vols., illustrated. Wame, Lon- 
don {£7, 3j). 

English Constitutional History 

Ransome, C. Rise of Constitutional Gov- 
ernment in England, i vol. Longmans, 
N.Y. (^2.00). (An excellent short con- 
stitutional history.) 

Taswell-Langmead, T. P. English Consti- 
tutional History, new and revised edi- 
tion, I vol. Stevens & Haynes, London 
($3.12). (This is the best complete 
constitutional history of England.) 

Feilden, H. St. C- A Short Constitutional 
History of England (revised edition), 
I vol. Ginn & Company, Boston (#1.25). 
(This is a reference manual of excep- 
tional value.) 

General Works of Reference 

Low and Pulling. Dictionary of English 
History (revised edition), i vol. Cas- 
sell, N.Y. (I2.50). 



Gardiner, S. R. A School Atlas of Eng- 

Hsh History, i vol. Longmans, N.Y. 

($i-So). 
Lee, G. C. Source-Book of English His- 
tory (giving leading documents, etc.), 

I vol. Holt & Co., N.Y. ($2.00). 
Acland and Ransome. English Political 

History in Outline. Longmans, N.Y. 

($1.25). (Excellent for reference.) 
Powell, J. York. EngUsh History from 

Contemporary Writers, 16 vols. Nutt 

& Co., London {\s per vol.). (A series 

of great value.) 
Gibbins, H. de B. An Industrial History 

of England, i vol. Scribners, N.Y. 

(I1.20). 
Cunningham and MacArthur. Outlines of 

English Industrial History. Macmillan, 

N.Y. ($1.50). 
Church, A. J. Early Britain. (Story of 

the Nations Series.) Putnams, N.Y. 

(1 1. 50). 
Story, A. T. The Building of the British 

Empire, 2 vols. Putnams, N.Y. ($3-00). 
McCarthy, J. The Story of the People of 

England in the XlXth Century, 2 vols. 

Putnams, N.Y. ($3.00). 

Works of Reference to be found in 
Libraries 

Traill, H. D. Social England, 6 vols. 

The Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 vols. 

Stephen, L. Dictionary of National [British] 
Biography, 63 vols. (A work of the 
highest rank.) 

Adams' Manual of Historical Literature. 

Mullinger's Authorities on English History. 

Bailey's Succession to the Crown (with full 
genealogical tables). 

Henderson's Side Lights on English His- 
tory. 

Poole's Index to Reviews. 



BOOKS ON ENGLISH HISTORY 



xliii 



I. The Prehistoric Period 

Dawkins' Early Man in Britain. 

Wright's The Celt, the Roman, and the 
Saxon. 

Elton's Origins of English History. 

Rhys' Celtic Britain. 

Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle (legen- 
dary). 

Geike's Influence of Geology on English 
History, in Macmillan's Magazine, 
1882. 

II. The Roman Period, 55, 54 b.c. ; 

A.D. 43-410 

*Cassar's Commentaries on the Gallic War 

(Books IV and V, chiefly 55, 54 b.c). 
*Tacitus' Agricola and Annals (chiefly from 

78-84). 
*Gildas^History of Britain (whole period). 
*Bede's Ecclesiastical History of Britain 
(whole period). 
Wright's The Celt, the Roman, and the 

Saxon. 
Elton's Origins of English History. 
Pearson's England during the Early and 

Middle Ages. 
Scarth's Roman Britain.^ 

III. The Saxon, or Early English, 

Period, 449-1066 

*The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (whole period). 
*Gildas' History of Britain (Roman Con- 
quest to 560). 
*Bede's Ecclesiastical History of Britain 

(earliest times to 731). 
*Nennius' History of Britain (earliest times 

to 642). 
*Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle (legen- 
dary) (earliest times to 689). 
*Asser's Life of Alfred the Great. 
Elton's Origins of English History. 
Pauli's Life of Alfred. 
Green's Making of England. 
Green's Conquest of England. 
Freeman's Norman Conquest, Vols. I-II. 
Pearson's History of England during the 

Early and Middle Ages. 
Freeman's Origin of the English Nation. 
Stubbs' Constitutional History of England. 
Taine's History of English Literature. 
Church's Beginning of the Middle Ages. 



Armitage's Childhood of the English Na- 
tion .^ 
Freeman's Early English History .2 

IV. The Norman Period, 1066-1154 

*The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Peterborough 

continuation) (whole period). 
*Ordericus Vitalis' Ecclesiastical History (to 

1141). 
*Wace's Roman de Rou (Taylor's transla- 
tion) (to 1 1 06). 
*Bruce's Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated (with 

plates). 
*William of Malmesbury's Chronicle (to 

1142). 
*Roger of Hoveden's Chronicle (whole 
period). 
Freeman's Norman Conquest. 
Church's Life of Anselm. 
Taine's History of English Literature. 
Stubbs' Constitutional History of England. 
Freeman's Short History of the Norman 

Conquest. 3 
Armitage's Childhood of the English Na- 
tion .3 
Johnson's Normans in Europe.^ 
Creighton's England a Continental Power .^ 

V. The Angevin Period, 1154-1399 

*Matthew Paris' Chronicle (1067-1253). 
*Richard of Devizes' Chronicle (1189-1192). 
*Froissart's Chronicles (1325-1400). 
*Jocelin of Brakelonde's Chronicle (1173- 
1202) (see Carlyle's Past and Present, 
Book II). 
Norgate's Angevin Kings. 
Taine's History of English Literature. 
Anstey's William of Wykeham. 
Pearson's England in the Early and Middle 

Ages. 
Maurice's Stephen Langton. 
Creighton's Life of Simon de Montfort. 
Stubbs' Constitutional History of England. 
Gairdner and Spedding's Studies in English 

History (the Lollards). 
Blade's Life of Caxton. 
Seebohm's Essay on the Black Death {Fort- 
nightly Review, 1865). 
Maurice's Wat Tyler, Ball, and Oldcastle. 
Gibbins' English Social Reformers (Lang- 
land and John Ball). 
Buddensieg's Life of Wiclif. 



The best short history. 



2 The two best short histories. 
The four best short histories. 



xliv 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Burrows' Wicklif's Place in History. 

Pauli's Pictures of Old England. 

Stubbs' Early Plantagenets.^ 

Rowley's Rise of the People. '^ 

War burton's Edward III.^ 

Shakespeare's John and Richard (Hudson's 
edition). 

Scott's Ivanhoe and The Talisman (Rich- 
ard I and John). 

VI. The Lancastrian Period, 
1399-1461 

*The Paston Letters (Gairdner's edition) 

(1424-1506). 
*Fortescue's Governance of England (Plum- 

mer's edition) (1460?). 
*Hall's Chronicle (1398-1509). 

Brougham's England under the House of 
Lancaster. 

Besant's Life of Sir Richard Whittington. 

Taine's English Literature. 

Rand's Chaucer's England. 

Stubbs' Constitutional History of England. 

Strickland's Queens of England (Margaret 
of Anjou). 

Reed's English History in Shakespeare, 

Gairdner's Houses of Lancaster and York.^ 

Rowley's Rise of the People.^ 

Shakespeare's Henry IV, V, and VI (Hud- 
son's edition). 

VII. The Yorkist Period, 1461-U85 

*The Paston Letters (Gairdner's edition) 

(1424-1506). 
*Sir Thomas More's Edward V and Rich- 
ard III. 
*Hall's Chronicle (1398-1509). 
Hallam's Middle Ages. 
Gairdner's Richard III. 
Taine's English Literature. 
Stubbs' Constitutional History of England. 
Gairdner's Houses of Lancaster and York.2 
Rowley's Rise of the People .2 
Shakespeare's Richard III (Hudson's edi- 
tion). 

VIII. The Tudor Period, 1485-1603 

*Holinshed's History of England (from 
earliest times to 1577). 

*Lord Bacon's Life of Henry VII. 

*Latimer's ist and 6th Sermons before Ed- 
ward VI and "The Ploughers" (1549). 

*Hall's Chronicle (1398-1509). 

^ The three best short histories. 



Hallam's Constitutional History of Eng- 
land. 

Lingard's History of England (Roman 
Catholic). 

Brewer's Reign of Henry VIII. 

Creighton's Cardinal Wolsey. 

Gibbins' Social Reformers (Sir Thomas 
More). 

Froude's History of England. 

Strickland's Queens of England (Catharine 
of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Mary, Eliza- 
beth). 

Demaus' Life of Latimer. 

Froude's Short Studies. 

Nicholls' Life of Cabot. 

Dixon's History of the Church of England. 

Hall's Society in the Age of Elizabeth. 

Thombury's Shakespeare's England. 

Macaulay's Essay on Lord Burleigh. 

Barrows' Life of Drake. 

Creighton's Life of Raleigh. 

Taine's English Literature. 

Creighton's The Tudors and the Reforma- 
tion .^ 

Seebohm's Era of the Protestant Revolu- 
tion. ^ 

Moberly's Early Tudors.s 

Creighton's Age of Elizabeth.^ 

Shakespeare's Henry VIII (Hudson's edi- 
tion). 

Scott's Kenilworth, Abbot, Monastery (Eliz- 
abeth, and Mary Queen of Scots). 

IX, The Stuart Period (First 
Part), 1603-1649 

*The Prose Works of James I (1599-1625). 

Jesse's Memoirs of the Court of England. 

*Fuller's Church History of Britain (earliest 

times to 1648). 
*Clarendon's History of the Rebellion (1625- 

1660). 
*Memoirs of Col, Hutchinson (1616-1664), 
*May's History of the Long Parliament 
(1640-1643). 
Carlyle's Historical Sketches of Reigns of 

James I and Charles I. 
Taine's History of English Literature. 
Spedding's Lord Bacon and his Times. 
Gardiner's History of England (1603-1649). 
Church's Life of Lord Bacon. 
Hallam's Constitutional History of Eng- 
land. 
Hume's History of England (Tory). 
Macaulay's History of England (Whig). 



The two best short histories. 



3 The four best short histories. 



BOOKS ON ENGLISH HISTORY 



xlv 



Lingard's History of England (Roman 
Catholic). 

Strickland's Queens of England. 

Ranke's History of England in the Seven- 
teenth Century. 

Macaulay's Essays (Bacon, Hampden, Hal- 
lam's History). 

Goldwin Smith's Three English Statesmen 
(Cromwell, Pym, Hampden). 

Cordery's Struggle against Absolute Mon- 
archy. ^ 

Cordery and Phillpott's King and Common- 
wealth.^ 

Gardiner's Puritan Revolution.^ 

Scott's Fortunes of Nigel (James I). 

X. The Commonwealth and Pro- 
tectorate, 1649-1660 (see 
Preceding Period) 

Gardiner's History of England (1649-1660). 
*Ludlow's Memoirs (1640-1668). 
*Carlyle's Life and Letters of Oliver Crom- 
well. 

Carlyle's Hero Worship (Cromwell). 

Guizot's Cromwell and the Commonwealth. 

Morley's Cromwell. 

Roosevelt's Cromwell. 

Guizot's Richard Cromwell. 

Guizot's Life of Monk. 

Masson's Life and Times of Milton. 

Bisset's Omitted Chapters in the History of 
England. 

Pattison's Life of Milton. 

Scott's Woodstock (Cromwell). 

XL Stuart Period (Second Part), 
1660-1714 

*Evelyn's Diary (1641-1706). 
*Pepys' Diary (1659-1669). 
*Bumet's History of his Own Time (i66o- 
1713)- 
Macaulay's Histoiy of England (Whig). 
Hallam's Constitutional History of Eng- 
land. 
Taine's History of English Literature. 
Strickland's Queens of England. 
Ranke's History of England in the Seven- 
teenth Century. 
Hume's History of England (Tory). 
Brewster's Life of Newton. 
Lingard's History of England (Roman 

Catholic). 
Green's History of the English People. 



Stanhope's History of England. 

Lecky's History of England in the Eight- 
eenth Century. 

Macaulay's Essays (Milton, Mackintosh's 
History War of the Spanish Succession, 
and The Comic Dramatists of the Res- 
toration). 

Creighton's Life of Marlborough. 

Guizot's History of Civilization (Chapter 
XIII). 

Morris' Age of Anne.^ 

Hale's Fall of the Stuarts. 1 

Cordery's Struggle against Absolute Mon- 
archy.i 

Scott's Peveril of the Peak and Old Mor- 
tality (Charles II). 

Thackeray's Henry Esmond (Anne). 

XII. The Hanoverian Period, 
1714 TO THE Present time 

*Memoirs of Robert Walpole. 

*Horace Walpole's Memoirs and Journals. 

Hallam's Constitutional History of England 
(to death of George II, 1760). 

May's Constitutional History (1760-1870). 

Amos' English Constitution (1830-1880). 

Bagehot's English Constitution. 

Lecky's History of England in the Eight- 
eenth Century. 

Walpole's History of England (1815-1860). 

Molesworth's History of England (1830- 
1870). 

Martineau's History of England (1816-1846). 

Taine's History of English Literature. 

Gibbins' Social Reformers (Wesley and Wil- 
berforce; and the Factory Reformers). 

Lecky's American Revolution, edited by 
Prof. J. A. Woodbum. 

Bancroft's History of the United States. 

Bryant's Histoiy of the United States. 

Stanhope's History of England (17 13-1783). 

Green's Causes of the Revolution. 

Seeley's Expansion of England. 

Frothingham's Rise of the Republic. 

Southey's Life of Wesley. 

Southey's Life of Nelson. 

Wharton's Wits and Beaux of Society. 

Waite's Life of Wellington. 

Massey's Life of George III. 

Goldwin Smith's Lectures (Foundation of 
the American Colonies). 

Macaulay's Essays (Warren Hastings, Clive, 
Pitt, Walpole, Chatham, Johnson, Ma- 
dame D'Arblay). 



The three best sh ,r; histc 



xlvi 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Smiles' Life of James Watt. 

Sydney Smith's Peter Plymley's Letters. 

Smiles' Life of Stephenson. 

Thackeray's Four Georges. 

McCarthy's Four Georges. 

Smiles' Industrial Biography. 

Grant Allen's Life of Darwin. 

Ashton's Dawn of the XIX. Century in 

England. 
Ludlow's American Revolution. ^ 
Rowley's Settlement of the Constitution 

(1689-1784).! 
Morris' Early Hanoverians (George I and 

11).! 

McCarthy's Epoch of Reform (1830-1850).! 
Tancock's England during the American 

and European Wars (1765-1820).! 
Browning's Modern England (1820-1874).! 
McCarthy's History of Our Own Times 

(1837-1897). 



n 



McCarthy's England under Gladstone 

(1880-1884). 
Ward's Reign of Victoria (1837-1S87). 
Bolton's Famous English Statesmen 

Queen Victoria's Reign. 
Hinton's English Radical Leaders. 
Gibbins' Social Reformers (Kingsley, Car- 

lyle, and Ruskin). 
Traill's Social England, Vol. VI. 
Brooks Adams' America's Economical Su- 
premacy. 
Escott's Victorian Age. 
The English Ilhistrated Magazine for 

July, 1897.2 
The Contemporary Review for June, 1897.2 
The Fortnightly Review for June, 1897.2 
Scott's Rob Roy, Waverley, and Redgaunt- 

let (the Old and the Young Pretender, 

1715, 1745-1753). 
Thackeray's Virginians (Washington). 
Dickens' Barnaby Rudge (1780). 



! The six best short histories. 

2 Contain valuable articles on the Victorian Era, giving general view of the reign. 



INDEX 



" Abhorrers," political party (note), 271. 

Acadians exiled, 326. 

Act of Attainder (1689), 290. 

Acts of Parliament, see Laws. 

Addison's " Spectator" (1711), 304. 

Africa, English colonies in, 406. 

English explorations in, 403. 

English improvements in, 407. 

English wars in, see Wars. 

English, see Egypt, Transvaal. 
Agincourt, see Battles. 
Agricola, forts of, 22. 

Agricultural labor, effects of Black Death 
on (1349), 132. 

laborers gain suffrage (1884), 385. 

laborers, see Villeins. 
Agriculture, 132, 178, 310, 400, 401. 

depressed prospects of, 401. 

protected vs. free trade, 400. 

see Com Laws, Labor, Laborers, Land, 
Suffrage. 
Alabama, England and the (1862), 383. 

claims settled (1872), 383. 
Albert, Prince, 373, 379, 381 (note), 382, 383. 
Albion, 37. 
Alfred the Great (871-901), 38-41. 

anniversary of his birth celebrated, 41. 

his nav}% 40. 

laws and translations of, 40. 

victory over the Danes, 39. 

White Horse Hill (871?), 39. 

Treaty of Wedmore (878), 39-40. 
America, the Cabots discover the continent 
of (1497), 186. 

emigration of Pilgrims and Puritans to 
(1620-1630), 234-236. 

emigration of Royalists to (1649-1659), 
255- 

England and France fight for (i8th cen- 
tury), 325-327- 

England claims (1497), 186. 

England colonizes (1584-1730), 218, 234. 

England draws food supplies from, 401. 

Revolution in, see Wars. 

debt of, to England, 418. 

history of, has its root in England, 418. 

largely peopled by British stock, 418. 

unity of English and American interests, 
417-420. 



America, see United States. 
Amusements, 85, 148, 226. 
Anderida (Pevensey), 31. 
Angevin or Plantagenet kings (i 154-1399), 
86. 

origin of the name, 86. 
Angles or English settle in Britain, 32. 

give name of England, 37. 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the, 53. 
Anglo-Saxon tribes on the continent, 12, 13. 

invade Britain, 12, 13, 32. 

what they did for England, 45-46. 

race, power of to-day, 419. 
Anne, reign of (1702-1714), 294-305. 

Dr. Sacheverell, 301. 

first daily paper (1703), 304. 

Jennings vs. Masham, 300. 

Literature ; the " Spectator," 304. 

Marlborough's campaigns (Blenheim), 
299. 

the Peace of Utrecht, 302. 

Union of England and Scotland, 303. 

War of' the Spanish Succession, 296. 

Whig and Tory, High Church and Low, 
295- 
Anne of Cleves, Queen of Henry VIII, 

199. 
Anselm, quarrel with William II, 70. 

recalled to England, 72. 
Anti-Corn Law League (Victoria), 376. 
Arabi Pasha, rebellion of (188 1), 406. 
Arbitration, Alabama case (1872), 383. 

Behring Sea case (1893), 404. 

Geneva Commission (1872), 383. 

Hague Peace Conference (1899), 404. 

Venezuela case (1896), 404. 
Arch, Joseph, 385. 
Archers and archery, 148, 176. 
Architecture, prehistoric, Stonehenge, 10. 

Roman, 24, 25, 27. 

Saxon, 54. 

Norman, 83. 

Gothic, " Early English," 110, 147. 

Gothic, " Decorated," 147, 177. 

Gothic, " Perpendicular," 227. 

Italian, 227, 309. 

Wren's work (St. Paul's), 268. 

see Manor-Houses, Castles, Cathedrals. 
Armada, defeat of the Spanish, see Battles. 



xlvii 



xlviii 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Arms and armor, 52, 78, 81, 145, 148, 157, 

176, 184, 225, 308. 
Army, in general, 14, 48, 50, 52, 79, 81, 88, 
127, 130, 1.57, 246, 247, 279, 286, 395, 
410. 

and commission reform, 395. 

and Mutiny Act (1689), 286. 

Cromwell's " Ironsides," 247. 

Cromwell's " New Model," 247. 

feudal, 50, 52, 79, 88. 

in South Africa, 410. 

large standing, not required, 14, 246. 

parliamentary, 246, 247, 255, 256, 257. 

standing, of Charles II, 262. 

standing, of James II, 279. 

the Saxon or English, 48, 50, 52, 79, 
81, 88. 

see Artillery, Gunpowder, Militia and 
Military Affairs, Battles, and Wars. 
Arrest, Charles I's attempted, of five mem- 
bers, 245. 
Art, 4, 25, S3, 82, 257, 309, 352, 391, 399. 

destruction of works of, 257. 
Arthur, King, 32. 

Prince, murdered, 102. 
Articles of Religion (1552), 203. 

(1563), 212. 
Artillery, 145, 184. 

Assiento, or Slave Contract (note), 303. 
Assize of Arms (note), 88. 

of Clarendon (note), 94. 
Assizes, the " Bloody" (1685), 277. 
Atlantic cable laid (1858, 1866), 379. 
Attainder, Thos. Cromwell's use of, 195. 

Act of (1689), 290. 
Augustine, landing of, in England (597), 33. 
Australia, England gets possession of, 327. 

growth of, 402. 
Austrian Succession, War of, see Wars. 
Authors, noted, 31, 35, 40, 53, 82, 133, 137, 
138, 146, 168, 177, 216, 217, 226, 266, 
289, 304, 308, 338, 351, 391. 

see Literature. 

Bacon, Sir Francis, 218, 231, 237. 

his new philosophy, 218. 

impeached (1621), 237. 

Roger (13th century), no. 
Baliol, John, 116. 
Ball, John, 135. 
Ballot demanded by the Chartists (184S), 374. 

secret (1872), 396. 
Bank of England established (1694), 294. 

suspended payment (1697, 181 1), 344. 
Banks, savings, established (1799), 405. 
Bannockbum, see Battles. 
" Barebone's Parliament," see Parliament. 



Baronets, created by James I, 237. 
Barons, vs. the King, 69, 94, 105, 107. 

Norman, 61, 62, 65, 76, 78, 369. 

Beaconsfield on Norman, 370. 

extort Magna Carta (1215), 105, 106. 

extort Provisions of Oxford (1258), in. 

King John's struggle with the, 105, 107. 

new class of, created by Henry III, 143, 
370- 

power of, crippled by Wars of the Roses, 
174, 370- 

see Nobility, Peerage, Peers. 
Battle Abbey, 58. 

the roll of (note), 369. 

Trial by, 77, 95. 
Battles: Agincourt [Ah'zhan'koorQ (1415), 
156. 

Anderida (490), 31. 

Arcot (175 1), 324. 

Armada [Ar-ma'da] (1588), 220-222. 

Ashdown Ridge (871), 39. 

Badbury or Mt. Badon (520), 732. 

Bannockburn (13 14), 122. 

Barnet (1471), 167. 

Blenheim (1704), 300. 

Bloreheath (1459), 165. 

Bosworth Field (1485), 173. 

Bouvines [Boo Veen'] (1214), 105. 

Boyne (1690), 291. 

Braddock's defeat (1756), 326. 

Bunker Hill (1775), 335- 

Burgoyne's defeat (1777), 336. 

Caesar's (55 B.C.), 18. 

Calais [Kal'ay'] (1347), 129. 

Calcutta (1756), 324. 

Chalgrove Field (1643), 248. 

Chateau Gaillard [Shah'toe' Gay'yare'] 
(1204), 103. 

Chester [Rowton Heath] (1645), 248. 

Concord (1775). 335- 

Crecy [Kray-see'] (1346), 127. 

Culloden (1746), 323. 

Dettingen [Det'in-gen] (1743). 322. 

Drogheda (1649) (note), 252. 

Dunbar (1296), 116. 

Dunbar (1650), 253. 

Dutch naval defeat (1653), 258. 

Edgehill (1642), 246. 

Edington (878), 39. 

Evesham (1265), 114. 

Flodden (1513), 190. 

Gibraltar (1704), 300. 

Hastings or Senlac (1066), 58. 

La Hogue (1692), 293. 

Lewes [Lew'ees] (1264), 112. 

Lexington (i775)> 335- 

Majuba Hill (1881), 408. 



INDEX 



xlix 



Battles: Malplaquet [Mal'pla-ka'] (1709), 
300. 

Marston Moor (1644), 248. 

Mt. Badon or Badbury (520), 32. 

Naseby (1645), 248. 

naval, with the Dutch (1653), 258. 

naval, with France (1798), 340. 

naval, with France (1805), 341. 

naval, with Spain (1588), 220. 

naval, with the U. S., War of 1812, 3^2. 

New Orleans (1815), 342. 

Nile (1798), 340. 

Northampton (1460), 165. 

Omdurman (1898), 406. 

Orleans [Or'la-on] (1429), 158. 

Oudenarde (1708), 300. 

Pinkie (1547), 203. 

Plassey (1757), 325- 

Poitiers [Pwa-te-a/] (1356), 130. 

Prestonpans (1745), 323. 

Quebec (1759), 326. 

Ramillies [Ram'ee-leez or Ra-me'ye'] 
(1700), 300. 

Roman (55 b.c.-a.d. 152), 18, 19, 21. 

Rowton Heath or Chester (1645), 248. 

St. Albans (1455), 164. 

Saratoga, Burgoyne's defeat (1777), 336. 

Sebastopol (1855), 380. 

Sedgemoor (1685), 276. 

Senlac or Hastings (1066), 58. 

Sheriffmuir (17 15), 316. 

Shrewsbury (1403), i53- 

Stamford Bridge (1066), 57. 

Standard, the (113S), 74- 

Tewkesbury (1471), 167. 

Tinchebrai (1106), 72. 

Towton(i46i), 165. 

Trafalgar [Traf-al^gar] (1805), 341. 

Van Tromp's defeat (1653), 258. 

Wakefield (1460), 165. 

Waterloo (i8i5),342. 

Wexford (1650) (note), 252. 

White Horse Hill (871), 39. 

Worcester (1651), 253. 

Yorktown (1781), 336. 

see, too, Blake, Cromwell, Drake, Kitch- 
ener, Marlborough, Monk, Nelson, 
Roberts, Russell, Wellington, Wars. 
Bayeux Tapestry (Bay'yuhO, 59, 82. 
Beaconsfield (Bekfons-field), 384, 404, 405, 

406, 410. 
Becket, Thomas, 88. 

Henry II's quarrel with, 89-93. 

murdered, 92. 

tomb violated, 197. 
Behring Sea case, 404. 
Benevolences, Edward IV extorts, 169, 176. 



Benevolences, abolished by Richard III, 171. 

revived by Henry VII, 182. 
Bible, Wycliffe translates (1378), 138. 

New Testament, the Greek (Henry 
VIII), 189. 

Henry VIII, action concerning, 200. 

devices for reading the (Mary), 207. 
Bigod, Earl vs. Henry III, iii, 112. 
Bill, the Exclusion (1679), 271. 

of Rights (1689), 287. 

"Root and Branch" (1641), 244. 

Irish Home Rule (1893), 404. 

see Laws. 
Bishops, appointment of (Henry I), 72. 

the Seven (1688), 281. 
"Black Death," the (1349), 132. 

effects of, on labor, 132. 
" Black Hole " of Calcutta (1756), 324. 
" Black Prince," the, 128, 131. 
Blake, Admiral, 222, 258. 
" Bloody Assizes," the (1685), 277. 
"Blue-Coat Schools" founded by Edward 

VI, 204. 
Boadicea [Bo-ad'i-ce'a] (61), 20. 
Boers [Boors], the, in South Africa, 407. 

England's war with the, see Wars. 
Boleyn (Bui 'in) Anne, 191, 194, 198. 
Bonner, Bishop, 207. 
Book, first printed in England (1477), 168, 

176. 
Books, noted, see Authors. 
"Boroughs, Rotten" (1832), 359, 361. 

abolished (1832), 363. 
Boscobel Oak, 253. 
Bowmen, English, 127, 128, 130, 157. 
Boycotting in Ireland (1880), 388. 
Braddock's defeat, see Battles. 
Bradshaw, John, 250, 251, 264. 
Breadstuffs, England depends on America 

for, 401. 
Breda, Declaration of (1660) (note), 261. 
Bretigny, Peace of, see Treatifes. 
Bright, John, 376. 
Britain, prehistoric, i-io. 

Christianity introduced into, 21. 

conquered by the Saxons, 31. 

geography of , 1 1 . 

Roman, 17-28. 

takes the name of England, 37. 
Britons, the primitive, i-io. 

bravery of the, 18, 32, 33. 

conquered by the Romans, 25-29. 

conquered by the Saxons, 32, 33. 

illustrious Americans descended from 
the, 33. 

religion of the, 9. 

what we owe to the, 10. 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Bruce, Robert, ii6, 121, 123. 
" Bubble, South Sea," the (1720), 317. 
Buckingham, Duke of, 240, 241. 
Burgoyne's defeat, see Battles. 
Burke, Edmund, 333, 335> 344> 35i- 
Burleigh, Lord (Cecil), 210. 

Cabal, the (1667-1673), 262. 

Cabinet Government begins (1721), 315. 

Government, modem (note), 315. 

members of the (note), 316. 

sovereign's power over the, 368, 414. 
Cable, the Atlantic, laid (1858, 1866), 379. 
Cabots, the, discover the continent of Amer- 
ica (1497), 186. 

monument to the, 405. 
Cade, Jack, rebellion of (1450), 161. 
Caesar, Julius, invades Britain (55, 54 B.C.), 18. 
Calais (Kal'ayO taken (1347); 129. 

restored (1360), 130. 

lost by Mary (1558), 208. 
Cambridge, 177, 178, 189. 
Canal system begun (1761), 347. 
Cannon first used (1346), 128. 

effect of, 129, 184. 
Canterbury, 21, 34, 92, 131. 
Canute, King of England (1017-1035), 43. 

his four earldoms, 43. 
Caractacus taken prisoner, 19. 
Caroline, Queen, refused coronation (182 1), 

356. 
Castles, Norman, 74, 83, 87. 

Edward I's, in Wales, 115, 147. 

give way to manor-houses, 218, 227. 
Catharine of Aragon marries Prince Arthur, 
185. 

burial place of, 197. 

divorced by Henry VIII, 192-194. 

marries Henry VIII, 191. 
Cathedral, St. Paul's, 227, 268. 
Cathedrals, Norman, 83. 

Gothic, 147, 177, 227. 

modern, 227, 268, 309. 
Catholic Church, see Church. 
Catholics meet at tomb of Edward the Con- 
fessor, 44. 

accused of burning London (1666), 268. 

and Oliver Cromwell, 252. 

and Protestants in Ireland, 345, 346. 

and the " Gunpowder Plot" (1605), 233. 

and the " Popish Plot" (1678), 270. 

Charles II favors the, 269-270. 

James II favors the, 275, 279-281. 

debarred from the Crown (1701), 2S8. 
Disabling Act against (1678), 271. 

disestablishment of the Irish Protestant 
Church, 386. 



Catholics, emancipation of, accomplished 
(1829), 357. 
England divided respecting the, 200, 

206, 209, 210, 213. 
excluded from the House of Commons 

(1559), 212. 
excluded from both Houses of Parlia- 
ment (1678-1829), 271. 
Exclusion Bill and Duke of York (1679), 

271. 
fight, the Spanish Armada (1588), 221. 
in Ireland, rebellion (1798), 345. 
Lord Gordon Riots against (1780), 337. 
oppressed, 287, 345. 
Pitt labors for the emancipation of the, 

346. 
readmitted to the House of Commons 

(1829), 357; 
severe acts against (1691), 292. 
sufferings of the Irish, 292. 
Cavaliers in the Civil War (17th century), 
246. 
(note), 271. 
Cavendish, Lord, murdered (1882), 389. 
Caxton prints first book in England (1477), 

167, 168, 176, 180. 
Cecil, Lord Burleigh, 210. 
Celtic names in England, 12. 
Celts in Britain, 7. 
Cerdic, a Saxon chief, 32. 
Chancery Court, see Courts. 
Channel, the influence of, on history^ 14, 

341- 
Charles I, reign of (1625-1649), 239-250. 
believes in the " Divine Right of Kings," 

239- 

the Petition of Right, 240. 

attempts to arrest members of Parlia- 
ment, 245. 

Civil War (1642-1649), 245. 

difficulty with the Scottish Church, 243 . 

Grand Remonstrance, 244. 

Long Parliament (1640-1660), 244. 

policy of "Thorough," 241. 

rules without Parliament, 241. 

ship money, John Hampden, 242. 

execution of (1649), 250. 
Charles II, proclaimed in Ireland (1649), 252. 

reign of (1660-1685), 261-275. 

plague and fire of London, 267. 

political reforms in reign of, 273. 

" Popish Plot," 270. 

proclaimed in Scotland (1649), 252. 

religious persecution by, 264. 

restored io the Crown (1660), 261. 

Rye-House Plot, 272. 

secret Treaty of Dover (1670), 269. 



INDEX 



Charles II, the " Cabal," 263. 

died a Catholic, 274. 
Charter, William I's, to London, 59. 

Henry I's (iioo), 71, 105. 

Henry II's (1154), 87. 

Stephen's (1135?), 74. 
Charter, the Great, or Magna Carta, de- 
manded (1214), 105. 

granted (12 15), 106. 

abstract of, in Appendix, ix, xxix. 

alterations in the, 109. 

confirmed (1297), 117. 

confirmed many times, 107. 

renewal of (1253), 112. 

reissued by Henry IV, 109, 112. 

terms and value of the, 106. 

violated by Heniy III, no. 

curse pronounced on the breakers of 
(1253), 112. 
Charters, town, sold by Richard I, 98, 102. 

town revoked by Charles II, 272, 284. 
Chartists, demands of the (1838-1848), 374. 

great demonstration planned by (1848), 

375- 

many demands of, eventually conceded, 
376. 
Chateau Gaillard (Shah 'toe' Gay'yare') taken, 

103. 
Chatham (Pitt) and the American Revolu- 
tion, 332. 
Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," 133, 137. 
Chester, 12, 27, 248. 
Children in mines and factories, 364, 365. 

chimney sweeping by, forbidden, 365. 

cruelty to, 364, 365- 

legislation in behalf of (1833), 365. 

see Laws. 
Chimney sweeping by children forbidden, 

365. 
China, war with, see Wars. 
Chivalry (see, too. Knighthood), 129, 145. 
Christianity first introduced into Britain, 21. 

conversion of Kent, 34. 

conversion of the North, 34. 

council of Whitby (664), 36. 

general influence of, 35, 36, 51. 

good work done by the monks, 35. 

influence of, for peace, 75. 

introduced into England (597), 33. 

political influence of (664), 36. 

see Church, Religion. 
Church, the first in England, 21. 

clergy, benefit of, 72, 80, 90. 

clergy, regular and secular, 41. 

Constitutions of Clarendon (1164), 90. 

courts, see Courts. 

Dunstan's reforms in the, 41. 



Church, reform, Gregory's scheme of, 63. 

Henry I and the, 72. 

John's quarrel with the (1208), 104. 

laws respecting appeal to the Pope (1351, 
1353), 131, 144- 

laws respecting holding lands, 143 . 

laws respecting papal legates, 193. 

Lollards and the, 139. 

Mendicant Friars, work of (1221), no, 
138, 144. 

monasteries destroyed by Henry VIII, 
196. 

monks and monasteries of, 35. 

political influence for good (664), 36. 

reforms attempted in the, 41, 42, 63, 72. 

the, attacked by the Danes (871), 38. 

vs. heretics, 139, 153, 155, 200, 207, 208, 
212, 308. 

William I, vs. the Pope, 64. 

William Rufus and the, 70. 

Wycliffe and the, 138. 

see Architecture, Cathedrals. 
Church, the Catholic, in England, see Church 
above. 

and Henry VIII, 194. 

separated from the Pope (1534), 194. 

vs. the Protestant, 204. 

see Christianity, Excommunication, 
Laws, Pope, Protestantism, Refor- 
mation, Religion. 
Church, the Protestant, of England estab- 
lished by Edward VI (1549), 202. 

and Dissenters, see Dissenters. 

and heresy, see Heresy. 

and the Puritans, see Puritans, 

and Toleration, see Laws. 

Articles of Religion, 203, 212. 

compulsory rates abolished (1868), 386. 

Elizabeth and the, 271, 272. 

High, vs. Low (Anne), 295. 

the Irish branch of, disestablished (1869), 
386. 

the Scottish, and Charles I (1637), 243. 
Churches mutilated by Henry VIII and 
Edward VI, 196, 197, 203. 

mutilated by Puritans, 257. 
Cities, sanitary conditions of, in Middle 
Ages, 148. 

condition of, to-day, 411. 

lighted with gas (1815), 349. 

London purified by fire (1666), 268. 

many not represented in Parliament 
(1830), 359. 

rapid growth of, 348. 

streets of London (1603-1714), 311. 
Civil Service Reform (1870), 395. 
Civil War, see Wars. 



Hi 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Civil War in United States, 381. 
Clarendon, Constitutions of (1164), 90, 142. 
Claverhouse, 265, 292. 
Clergy, benefit of, 80, 90, 142. 

and Constitutions of Clarendon (1164), 
90, 142. 

regular and secular, 41. 
Clive's campaigns in India (1751-17S7). 324- 
Coal mines, women and children in, 364. 
Cobbett, William, 361. 
Cobden, Richard. 376. 
Cobham, Lord, 155. 

Coffee-houses opened in London (17th cen- 
tury), 311. 
Coinage, 87, 228. 
Colleges, see Education. 
Colonies planted in America, 218. 

emigration to the, 235, 236, 255. 

first permanent, in America (1607), 234. 

how England regarded her, 331. 

imperial federation of, 404. 

impose duties on English goods, 401. 

in Ireland (161 1), 236. 

American Revolution, 335. 

independence of, acknowledged (1782), 

337- 
liberty enjoyed by American, 331. 
Navigation Laws, and the, 257. 
restriction of trade, and manufactures in, 

330- 

taxes imposed on, 330, 332, 333. 

see Africa, America, Australia, India, 
Ireland, New Zealand. 
Commerce, early tin trade of Britain, 8. 

favorable situation of England for, 15. 

rise of English (1399), 125. 

wool trade (Edward III), 148. 

in general, 8, 15, 54, 84, 125, 148, 178, 
227, 310, 410. 

England's loss of supremacy in, 410. 

see Trade, Manufacture, Industry, Labor. 
Common Law, 51. 

Common Prayer, Book of (1549), 203. 
Commons, House of, rise of the (1265), 113, 

143- 
gains control of money power, 152, 289, 

307, 372- 
gains control of taxation, 152, 372. 
gains share in legislation (1322), 122. 
power of impeachment (14th century), 

131- 
the Model Parliament (1295), 115. 
is now supreme, 307, 368, 372. 
see Parliament. 
Commonwealth or Republic of England 

(1649), 251. 
Communists, 135, 139, 252. 



Communists, see Ball, Cade, Tyler, Lollards. 
Compurgation, 50. 

Conservative and Liberal parties (1833), 364. 
Constitution, growth of the, 287. 

of Cromwell's Protectorate (1653), 255. 
of Cromwell's Protectorate (1657), 255. 
see Act of Settlement, Bill of Rights, 
Habeas Corpus Act, Humble Peti- 
tion and Advice, Instrument of Gov- 
ernment, Magna Carta, Petition of 
Right; see, too. Government. 
Constitutional Documents, see Appendix, 
xxix. 
Government, England's development of, 

107, 418. 
history, general summary of. Appendix, 
i-xxviii. 
Constitutions of Clarendon, see Laws. 
Conventicle Act, see Laws. 
Cook, Captain, explorer, 327. 
Cooperative Societies and Stores, 400. 
Corn Laws, see Laws. 
Cornish, execution of Alderman (James II), 

279. 
Coronation chair, 117. 

oath, Elizabeth's, 211. 
Corporation Act, see Laws. 
Cotton manufacturing machinery, 348. 
Council, the King's, 76. 
Council, the National, 45, 47, 48, 76, 109. 
the Privy or Private, 76. 
of State (1649), 251. 

see Cabinet, Parliament, Witenagemot. 
Councils, County, Act, see Laws. 

Parish, Act, see Laws. 
Counties, the Palatine, 62. 
" Country Party," the (Charles II), 271. 
County Councils Act, see Laws. 
Court, ecclesiastical, estabUshed by WiL 
ham I, 63. 
abuses of, 80, 90, 144. 
High Commission, 212, 242, 280. 
Court, High Commission, established (1583), 
212. 
Laud's use of, 242. 

abolished by the Long Parliament, 244. 
revived by James II, 280. 
finally abolished by the Bill of Rights 
(1689), Appendix, xxxi. 
Court of Justice (449-1066), 50. 
Chancery, 76 ; (note), 77. 
Common Pleas (note), 77, 142. 
divided into Chancery, Common Pleas, 
Exchequer, and King's Bench (note), 

n- 

improved by Henry I, 73. 

the Curia Regis, or High Court, 77 



INDEX 



liii 



Court, Star-Chamber, established (Henry 
VII), 183. 
abolished (Long Parliament, 1640), 244. 
abuses of the, reformed, 284. 
abuses of the Stuart, 277, 280, 284. 
Laud's use of, 242. 
^reforms in Chancery (1873, 1877), 396. 
reforms in criminal, 397. 
see " Bloody Assizes," Compurgation, 
Jeffreys, Jury, Judges, Ordeal, 
Scroggs, Trial by Battle. 
Courts, private baronial, 95. 
Covenant, the original Scottish (1557) (note), 
243- 
Charles II subscribe? to the (1650), 253. 
publicly burned (1661), 264. 
Solemn League and, accepted by Parlia- 
ment (1647), 248. 
the second Scottish (1638) (note), 243. 
the Solemn League and (1647), 248. 
Covenanters, persecution of the Scottish 

(Charles II), 265. 
Cranmer, Bishop, 194, 203, 207. 

burned, 207. 
Crdcy, battle of, see Battles. 
Cromwell, Oliver, and John Hampden, 243. 
campaign in Ireland, 252. 
Protector (1653-1658), 254-258. 
character as a ruler, 256. 
expels Parliament, 254. 
in the Civil War (17th century), 246. 
is offered the crown, 255. 
made general-in-chief, 251. 
made Protector (1653-1658), 254. 
organizes the New Model Army, 247. 
visits corpse of Charles I, 250. 
his corpse hanged (1660), 264. 
Cromwell, Richard, Protector (1658-1659), 

259- 
Cromwell, Thomas (Henry VIII), 195, 199. 
Crown, succession to the, 47, 175, 198 (note), 
205, 288. 
claim of divine right of the, 232, 239, 

306. 
good effects of power of, 181-182. 
has lost power of veto, 369. 
has no direct political power now, 288, 

368-369. 
how limited by the Revolution of 1688, 

288. 
how limited to-day (note), 373. 
power of, under Charles I, 239, 240, 241, 

242. 
power of, under Charles II, 269, 270, 

272, 274. 
power of, under George I, 314, 315, 316, 
power of, under George II, 321, 



Crown, power of, under George III, 330. 
Dunning's famous resolution respecting 

the (1780), 330. 
power of, under James I, 232, 233, 237. 
power of, under James II, 275, 279, 280, 

281. 
power of, under the Tudors, 181, 184, 

195, 224. 
power of, under William IV, 368. 
Queen Anne controlled by favorites, 

300. 
stability of the, 367. 
strengthened by destruction of the 

baronage, 174. 
strengthened by firearms, 184. 
strengthened by scutage, 88, 144. 
see Government, King, Parliament, 
House of Commons, Constitution. 
Crusades, Richard I goes to the (1190), 98. 
purpose of the, 100. 
results of the, loi. 
Edward I goes to, 114. 
Curfew, 84. 

Curia Regis, or King's Court, see Courts. 
Curse of the Charter Breakers (1253), 112. 

Danegeld, or tax levied (992), 42. 
Danes or Northmen invade England (871), 
12,38. 

Alfred's battles with, 39. 

Alfred's treaty with (878), 40. 

conquer England (1013), 43. 

destroy monasteries, 38. 

levy tax, 42. 

names given by, in England, 13. 

what they did for England, 45 . 
Danish Kings of England (1013-1035), 43. 

see Canute, Sweyn. 
Darwin, Charles, 390-391. 
Davy, Sir Humphry, 350. 
Debt, National, origin of (1693), 293. 

great increase of (1688-1815), 344. 

punishment of debtors, 311, 339. 
Declaration of Breda (1660) (note), 261. 

of Indulgence (Charles II), 270. 

of Indulgence (James II), 279, 280, 281. 

of Right (1689), 285. 

of Sunday Sports (1633), 242. 

of Sunday Sports burned, 242. 
" Defender of the Faith " (Henry VIII), 190. 
Despensers, the (Edward II), 123. 
Disfranchisement of voters (1430), 160, 175. 
Dispensing power of the King (note), 279, 

280, 281. 
Dissenters, vs. Nonconformists (note), 264. 

harsh laws against (171 1, 17 14), 303, 

harsh laws repealed, 313. 



liv 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Dissenters, see Puritans, Pilgrims, Perse- 
cution, Heretics, Religion, Laws, 
Church. 
" Divine Right of Kings," 232, 239, 306. 
Dixwell, John, regicide, 264. 
Domesday Book compiled (1086), 65. 
Dover, secret Treaty of, see Treaties. 
Drake, Sir Francis, 218, 221, 222, 227. 
Dress, 84, 148, 178, 228. 

change to modern style of, 352. 
Druids, the, 9, 20. 
Dunkirk ceded to the English, 258. 
Dunning's famous resolution (1780), 330. 
Dunstan, St., his reforms, 41. 
Dutch colony in America seized (1664), 266. 

the, invade England (1667), 268. 

v^fars with the, see Wars. 

Earl (see Nobility), 48. 

Earldoms, Canute's four, 43. 

Earl Godwin, power of, 44. 

East India Company, 218, 310, 324, 334, 

, 338. 
Education (449-1066), 35, 40, 52, 53. 

(1154-1399), 146. 

(1399-1485), 177, 188. 

(1485-1603), 226. 

(1603-1714), 309- 

(1760-1820), 352. 

at beginning of Victorian era, 397. 

" Board Schools " established (1870), 386. 

Edward VI founds schools, 203, 204. 

great progress of, in Victorian era, 397. 

Henry VIII encourages, 188. 

monastic schools, 35. 

national system established (1870), 386. 

Roger Bacon's work, iio-iijp. 

Sir Francis Bacon's new philosophy, 
218. 

the " New Learning " (Henry VIII), 188. 

universities thrown open to all (187 1), 

387. 
see Universities, Laws. 
Edward the Confessor, reign of (1042-X066), 

44. 
Laws of, 59, 105. 
Edward I, reign of (1272-1307), 114-121. 
confirms the Charters, 117. 
conquers Wales, 115. 
expels the Jews, 118. 
goes to the Crusades, 114. 
important laws of, respecting land and 

the Church, 119, 120. 
summons the " Model Parliament," 115. 
war with Scotland (Wallace), 117. 
Edward II, reign of (1307-1327), 121-124. 
battle of Bannockburn, 122. 



Edward II, Ordinances of Reform, 122. 

Piers Gaveston, 121. 

the Despensers, 123. 

the King deposed and murdered, 123. 
Edward III, reign of (1327-1377), 124-134. 

battle of Crecy, and other victories, 
128-130. 

beginning of English Literature, 133. 

beginning of the " Hundred Years' 
War" with France, 125. 

effects of the French war in England, 
131. 

Peace of Bretigny, 130. 

rise of English commerce, 125. 

the Black Death and Labor, 132. 

the "Good Parliament," 133. 

wool manufacture, 125. 
Edward IV, reign of (1461-1483), 167-169. 

continuation of Wars of the Roses, 167. 

the introduction of printing, 167. 

the King collects " benevolences," 169. 
Edward V, reign of (1483-1483), 169. 

murdered in the Tower, 170. 
Edward VI, reign of (1547-1S53)) 201-205. 

battle of Pinkie, 203. 

confiscation of church property, 203. 

founds charity schools, 204. 

Protestantism established, 202. 

seizure of unenclosed lands, 202. 
Edward VII, accession of (1901), 410. 
Egbert, first " King of the English " (828), 

37- 
descent of English sovereigns from, 38. 
see, too, table in Appendix, xl. 
Egypt, England in, 406. 
Eleanor, Queen of Edward I, 115, 118. 
Elections, disorderly scenes at, 364. 

see Bribery Act, Reform Acts of 1832, 
1867, 1884, Registration Act, Secret 
Ballot Act; see, too, Cities, Disfran- 
chisement, Laws, "Rotten Bor- 
oughs," and Suffrage. 
Electors disfranchised (1430), 160, 175. 
Electricity, age of, 379. 
Eliot, Sir John, 240, 241. 
Elizabeth, Princess, declared illegitimate, 

198. 
Elizabeth, Queen, reign of (i 558-1603), 209- 
224. 
Act of Supremacy reenacted, 212. 
and Henry VIII's will, 198; (note), 205. 
and the Spanish Armada, 220. 
beheads Mary Queen of Scots, 220. 
character and policy of, 214-215. 
death of, 223-224. 
first Poor Law enacted, 223. 
her crooked ways and lying, 215. 



INDEX 



Iv 



Elizabeth, Queen, her violent temper, 215. 

imprisoned in the Tower by Mary, 206. 

knew when to yield, 216. 

literature of her age, 216-218. 

monopolies, 216. 

question of her marriage, 213. 

religious legislation of, 211-213. 

splendor of her reign, 217-218. 

the Thirty-Nine Articles of religion, 212. 
Elliott's " Corn-Law Rhymes," 376. 
Emmet, Robert, 346. 
Empson and Dudley, 183. 
England conquered by the Romans, 17. 

and the United States, unity of interests 
of, 417-420. 

Christianity introduced into, 21, 33. 

commercial situation of, 15. 

conquered by the Normans, 58-60. 

conquered by the Saxons, 30-31. 

Constitutional Documents of, Appendix, 
"fccix. 

Constitutional History, Sununary of, 
Appendix, i-xxviii. 

geography of, in relation to history, 11. 

great progress of, under Victoria, 391- 
405- 

has taken the lead in the development 
of constitutional government, 107, 
418. 

influence of steam on growth of, 348. 

invaded by the Danes, 12, 38, 40-45. 

name adopted, 37. 

sketch of progress of, 412-417. 

see, in general, Constitution, Govern- 
ment, Laws, Army, Navy, Trade, 
Commerce, Literature, Wars, Trea- 
ties. 
EngUsh or Angles invade Britain (547), 32. 

general character of, 45, 46. 

give name of England, 32, 37. 

what they accomplished, 46. 
Englishry, the Law of, see Laws. 
Entail of land, 119, 371. 

Law of, see Laws. 
Episcopal clergy driven out (Common- 
wealth), 248. 

Church, see Church. 
Erasmus, 189. 
Essex (Elizabeth), 215, 223. 

General (Commonwealth), 246. 
Ether, introduction of, into surgery (1846), 

399- 
Eton College founded, 177. 
Exchequer, Charles II robs the (1672), 269. 

Court, see Courts. 
Excise Tax, see Tax. 
Exclusion Bill fails (1679), 271-272. 



Excommunication of Henry II, 91. 
of Henry VIII, 195. 
of John, 104. 

Factories, effect of steam on, 348. 

employment of women and children in, 
364, 365. 
Factory Act, see Laws. 

Reform (1833), 364. 
" Fair Rosamond," 93. 
Fairs (i 154-1399), 147. 

(17th century), 147. 

Bunyan's " Vanity Fair," 147. 

the "World's" (1S51), 379. 
Famine, the Irish (1845), 377- 
"Favorites," royal, 122, 123, 133, 134, 232, 

262, 300, 301. 
Fenian Plots, see Plots. 
Feudal System (449-1066), 48-50, 66, 72. 

(1066-1154), 78; Appendix, iii-vi. 

advantages of the, 49. 

baronage destroyed by Wars of the 
Roses, 174. 

dues or taxes of the, 79. 

effect of artillery on the, 129, 184. 

effect of scutage on the, 88. 

finally abolished (1660), 273. 

William I breaks the neck of the 
Appendix, vi. 
" Field of the Cloth of Gold " (Henry VIII), 

190. 
Fire, the great London (1666), 267. 
Firearms, introduction of (1399-1485), 176. 

strengthen the royal power (Henry 
VII), 184. 

see Gunpowder and Cannon. 
Fisher, Bishop, burned (1535), 195. 
Five-Mile Act, see Laws. 
Flag, the British, 303. 
Inlanders, wool trade with, 125. 
Florida ceded to England (1763), 327. 
Folkland (449-1066), 48. 
Food supply of England, 401. 
Forest Laws, severity of the, 64. 

see Laws. 
Forest, the New, 64. 
Forster, Mr., and the Education Act (1870), 

386. 
Fox and the American Revolution, 335. 

and Ireland, 345. 

and the slave trade, 340. 
France, Henry II's possession in, 86. 

aids James II, 284, 290. 

alliance of Scotland with, 116. 

and Ireland, 345. 

and the " Pretender," 303, 323. 

and William IV, 297. 



ivi 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



France, Edward III claims crown of (1338), 
126. 

Edward III obtains part of, 130. 

Edward III renounces claim to, 130. 

effect of French Revolution on Eng- 
land, 340. 

Louis of, invited to take the English 
crown (1215), 107. 

makes secret treaty with Charles II, 269. 

Napoleon plans invasion of England, 

340. 
struggle of, with England for America, 

325- 

wars with, see Wars. 
Free towns, rise of, 99. 
Free trade established (1849), 378. 

colonies do not permit, 378. 

see Navigation Act and American 
Colonies, and Ireland. 
Friars, Mendicant, in England (1221), no. 

work of , no, 138, 144. 
Friction matches perfected (1834), 366. 
Fry, Elizabeth, 339. 

Gardiner, Bishop, 207. 
Gas introduced (1815), 349. 
Gaunt, EHzabeth, burned (James II), 279. 
Gaveston, Piers, 121. 

Genealogical tables, Edward III and 
French crown, 126. 

claims of Lady Jane Grey to crown, 205. 

claims of Mary Queen of Scots to 
crown, 205. 

descent of English sovereigns, from 
Egbert (828) to Edward VII (1901), 
Appendix, xl. 

Edward III and Mortimer, 141. 

Edward III, descendants of, 163. 

Henry VII's descendants, 172. 

House of Hanover(George \,etseq^,T,-s.i. 
Geneva arbitration (1872), 383. 
Geography of England, and history, 11. 

of world as known in 1485, 185. 
George I, reign of (1714-1727), 312-321. 

cabinet government begins, 314. 

inoculation, 319. 

the "Pretender," 316. 

the " South Sea Bubble," 317. 

Walpole first Prime Minister, 315. 
George II, reign of (1727-1760), 321-329. 

Clive's victories in India, 324. 

intemperance, increase of, 327. 

rise of the Methodists, 328. 

the "Pretender," 323. 

War of the Austrian Succession, 322. 

war with France for America, 325. 

war with Spain (Jenkins' ear), 321. 



George III, reign of (1760-1820), 329-353. 

American independence, 337. 

battle of Waterloo, 342. 

canal system begun, 347. 

Cunning's resolution, 330. 

impeachment of Warren Hastings, 337. 

insanity of the King, 353. 

introduction of gas, 349. 

law and prison reforms, slave trade, 338. 

liberty of the press secured, 338. 

literature, 351. 

Lord George Gordon riots, 337. 

Prince of Wales, regent, 353. 

rebellion in Ireland, 344. 

steam comes into use, 347. 

steamboats, 350. 

struggle with the Whigs, 330. 

taxation of American colonies, 330-335. 

the American Revolution, 335. 

union of Great Britain and Ireland, 346. 

War of 1812 with the United States, 341. 

war with France, 340. 
George IV, regency of (1811-1820), 353. 

reign of (1820-1830), 354-359- 

Catholic emancipation and other reforms, 
357- 

Queen Caroline refused coronation, 356. 

the " Manchester Massacre," 355. 

the new police, 358. 
Gladstone, 372, 386, 387, 404, 408. 
Glastonbury, first church built in England 

(63?), 21. 
Glencoe, massacre of (1692), 292. 
Glendower, rebellion of (Henry IV), 151. 
Godwin, Earl, power of, 44. 
Goffe, the regicide, 264. 
Gordon, " Chinese," 406. 

General, 406. 

Lord George, riots (1780), 337. 
Government (449-1714), 46, 142, 175, 224, 
306. 

beginning of Cabinet system (172 1), 315. 

constitutional, England's development 
of, 107, 418. 

House of Commons now supreme, 368. 

"personal," vs. constitutional, 180, 181, 
314, 315. 368,369. 

rise of political parties (Charles II), 271. 

the first Prime Minister (172 1), 315. 

see Act of Settlement, Bill of Rights, 
Cabinet, Constitution, Crown, House 
of Commons, Laws, Magna Carta, 
Parliament, Petition of Right, Politi- 
cal Parties, Prime Minister, Suffrage ; 
also Summary of Constitutional His- 
tory and Constitutional Documents 
in the Appendix. 



INDEX 



Ivii 



Grattan, Henry, 345, 

Greek, study of (Henry VIII), 188. 

Testament edited (Henry VIII), 189. 
" Green, wearin' o' the" (song), 345. 
Gregory and the English slaves, 33. 
Grey, Lady Jane, executed, 206. 
Guilds (trades unions), 55, 84, 147. 
Gunpowder known to Roger Bacon, 128. 

effect of, on war, 129, 184. 

see Firearms and Cannon. 
Gunpowder Plot, see Plots. 

Habeas Corpus Act, see Laws. 
Hadrian's wall, 24. 
Hague Peace Conference (1899), 404. 
Hampden, Sir Edmund, 240. 

John, 240, 242, 243, 245, 247, 24S, 262. 

John, refuses to pay ship money, 242. 
Hampton Court Conference (1604), 231. 
Hargreaves, 348. 

Harley, Tory leader (Anne), 301, 312. 
Harold, last of Saxon kings, 45. 

killed at battle of Hastings (1066), 58. 
Harvey, Dr. William, 309. 
Hastings, battle of, see Battles. 
Hastings, Warren, impeached (1788), 337. 
Hawkins, Sir John, 227. 
Hengist and Horsa, 30. 
Henry I, reign of (1100-1135), 71-73- 

action respecting the Church, 72. 

battle of Tinchebrai, 72. 

grants charter, 71. 

organizes courts of justice, 73. 

quarrel with Robert, 72. 
Henry II, reign of (1154-1189), 86-96. 

Becket excommunicates, 91. 

charter and reforms, 87. 

civil war, 93. 

conquers the barons, 94. 

Constitutions of Clarendon, 90-91, 93. 

dominions of, in France, 86 

murder of Becket, 92. 

origin of trial by jury, 95. 

quarrel with Becket, 88-92. 

scutage, 88. 

war with France, 88. 
Henry III, reign of (1216-1272), 108-114. 

civil war, 112. 

curse of the charter breakers, 112. 

death of Simon de Montfort, 114. 

his church-building, 1 10. 

his extravagance, 109. 

reissue of Magna Carta, 109. 

renewal of Magna Carta, 112, 113. 

rise of House of Commons, 113. 

Roger Bacon's work, 110. 

the " Mad Parliament," 11 1. 



Henry III, the Mendicant Friars, no. 

the Provisions of Oxford, in. 
Henry IV, reign of (1399-1413), 150-155. 

battle of Shrewsbury, 153. 

bold action of Parliament, 152. 

conspiracies and revolts, 151. 

first heretic burned, 153. 

persecution of the Lollards, 153. 
Henry V, reign of (1413-1422), 155-158. 

battle of Agincourt, 156. 

Lollard revolt, 155. 

Treaty of Troyes, 157. 

war with France, 156. 
Henry VI, reign of (1422-1471), 158-166. 

Cade's rebellion, 161. 

disfranchisement of the people, 160. 

Joan of Arc, 159. 

power of the nobles, 160. 

sent a prisoner to the Tower, 166. 

war with France, 158. 

Wars of the Roses begin, 162-166. 
Henry VII, reign of (1485-1509), 179-187 

Cabot discovers American conth^ent, 
186. 

great power of, 180-181. 

marriages, 185. 

methods of raising money, 182. 

organizes Court of Star-Chamber, 183. 

reign begins a new epoch, 186. 

strengthened by artillery, 184. 

stronger feeling of nationality, 181. 

two Pretenders, 184. 

union of houses of Lancaster and York, 
179. 

world as known in 1485, 185. 
Henry VIII, reign of (1509-1547), 187-201. 

Act of Supremacy, 194. 

alters the succession to the crown, 198. 

Anne Boleyn, 191. 

battle of Flodden, 190. 

beheads Anne Boleyn, 198. 

" Defender of the Faith," 190. 

destroys the monasteries, 195-197. 

distress of laboring classes, 197. 

divorces Catharine, 192-194. 

encourages the " New Learning," 188. 

executes More and Fisher, 195. 

fall of Wolsey, 192. 

" Field of the Cloth of Gold," 190. 

made head of the Church, 194. 

marries Anne Boleyn, 194. 

marries Catharine of Aragon, 191. 

marries Jane Seymour, 198. 

more mairiages, 199. 

punishes heresy and treason, 200. 

separates Church of England from 
Rome, 194. 



Iviii 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Henry VIII, subserviency of Parliament, 
195, 198. 

what the world owes, 201. 
Heraldry, 145. 
Heretics, first law against, see Laws. 

burned (1401-1612), 153, 155, 308. 

Elizabeth puts to death, 212. 

Henry VIII punishes, 200. 

last martyr burned (1612), 308. 

Mary puts to death, 207-208. 
Hereward, 60. 

High Commission Court, see Courts. 
Hill, Sir Rowland, 374. 
Hogarth's pictures of the times, 352. 
Hospitals founded by Edward VI, 204. 
House of Commons, see Commons and Par- 
liament. 
House tax, see Tax. 
Howard, Catharine (Henry VIII), 199. 
Howard, John, 339. 

Lord High Admiral, 221. 
" Hudibras " and the Puritans, 256, 262. 
Hudson, the " Railway King," 366. 
Humble Petition and Advice (1657), 255. 
Hundred Years' War with France, see Wars. 

Impeachment by House of Commons (14th 
century), 131 ; Appendix, xii, 

of Harley (1714), 312. 

of Laud (1640), 244. 

of Lord Bacon (1621), 237. 

of Strafford (1641), 244. 

of Tory leaders (1714), 312. 

of Warren Hastings (1788), 337. 
Impressment of Americans (1812), 342. 
Independence of the United States acknowl- 
edged (1782), 337. 
Independents, 244, 247, 249, 307. 
India, English possessions in, 218, 227, 324, 
327- 

Clive's campaigns in (1751-17S7), 324- 

corruption in, 338. 

government of, transferred to the Crown 
(1857), 381. 

opened to trade, 338. 

Sepoy rebellion in (1857), 381. 

Victoria made Empress of (1876), 381. 

Warren Hastings and, 337. 

see East India Company. 
Indulgence, Charles II's Declaration of, 270. 

James II's Declaration of, 279. 

James II's Declaration of, renewed, 280. 
Industry.and commerce, 15, 54, 125, 147, 178, 
227, 310, 400, 401, 410, 411. 

see Agriculture, Commerce, Guilds, 
Labor, Manufactures, Trade. 
Inoculation introduced (1721), 319. 



Insane, treatment of the, 397. 
Instrument of Government (1653), 255. 
Insurrection, see Rebellion. 
Intemperance (i8th century), 327. 
Interdict, England under (1208), 104. 
Intolerable acts, the four (George III), 335. 
Inventions, 309, 347. 

see Cotton Machinery, Friction Match, 
Gas, Locomotive, Safety Lamp, 
Photography, Steam Engine, Tele- 
graph. 
Ireland, early history of (note), 87. 

and the Queen's Jubilee (1897), 404. 

battle of the Boyne (1690), 290. 

boycotting (1880), 388. 

Catholic Emancipation (1829), 357. 

Coercion Act (1887), 390. 

colonization of (161 1), 236. 

Cromwell's campaign in (1649), 252. 

Dean Swift on the misery of (18th cen- 
tury), 344. 

Emmet's rebellion (1803), 346. 

English Church disestablished (1869), 
386. 

failure of potato crop in (1876), 388. 

Fenians active (1881), 389. 

first Land Act (1870), 387. 

free trade partially secured (1800), 347. 

free trade wholly secured (19th century), 

347- 

great distress in (1879), 388. 

great famine in (1845-1846), 377. 

had no commercial liberty (i8th cen- 
tury), 345. 

Henry II partially conquers, 87. 

Home Rule Bill for (1893), 404. 

Irish Parliament reestablished (1782), 

345- 
James II's Act of Attainder in (1689), 

290. 
James II's campaign in (1689), 290. 
Land League formed (1879), 3^8. 
Land League suppressed (1882), 389. 
"Lilli Burlero," song of (1687), 279. 
Local Government Act for (1898), 404. 
made subject to English Parliament 

(1494) (note), 182. 
murder of Lord Cavendish (1882), 389. 
Poynings' Act (1494) (note), 182. 
Poynings' Act repealed (1782), 345. 
rebellion in (1595), 223. 
rebellion in (1641), 252. 
rebellion of (1798), 345. 
reform of taxation of (1898), 404. 
second Land Act (1881), 389. 
siege of Londonderry (1689), 290. 
suffrage restricted in (1829), 357, 358. 



INDEX 



lix 



Ireland, Tyrconnel in (1687), 279. 

union of, with Great Britain (1800), 346. 

"United Irishmen" organized (i8th 
century), 345. 

violation of Treaty of Limerick(i69i),292. 

" Wearin' o' the Green," song (i8th cen- 
turjO, 345- 

William Ill's campaigns in (1689), 290. 
" Ironsides," Cromwell's (1645), 247. 
Isabella, Queen, murders Edward II, 124. 

Jacobites (1689), 286, 316, 317, 323. 
Jamaica taken (Cromwell), 258. 
James I, reign of (1603-1625), 229-239. 

American colonies planted, 234. 

and the great Puritan Petition, 230. 

and the House of Commons, 233. 

appearance and character of, 230. 

colonization of Ireland, 236. 

execution of Raleigh, 238. 

favQtites of, 233. 

Hampton Court Conference, 231. 

how he raised money, 237. 

impeachment of Bacon, 237. 

King by Act of Parliam.ent, 229. 

Parliament's independent stand, 237. 

the "Addled Parliament," 236. 

the " Divine Right of Kings," 232. 

the first newspaper, 236. 

the Gunpowder Plot, 233. 

the Pilgrims and Puritans, 234. 
James, Duke of York, 271. 

see Exclusion Bill. 
James II, reign of (1685-1689), 275-285. 

and Magdalen College, 280. 
. battle of Sedgemoor, 276. 

birth of a son to, 282 . 

Declaration of Indulgence, 279, 280. 

desire to restore Catholicism, 275. 

desire to rule independently of Parlia- 
ment, 275. 

flight of, to France, 283. 

imprisons the Seven Bishops, 281. 

invitation to William of Orange, 282. 

Monmouth's rebellion, 275. 

Revolution of 1688, 284. 

the " Bloody Assizes," 277. 
Jameson raid, the (1895), 409. 
Jefferson, Thomas, descent of, 33. 
Jeffreys, Judge, cruelty of, 277. 
" Jenkins' Ear," War of, see Wars. 
Jennings, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, 

300. 
Jerusalem Chamber, 154. 
Jesuits (Elizabeth), 210. 

put to death (Elizabeth), 212. 

see Plots. 



Jews, Richard I extorts money from the, 
98. 

admitted to Parliament (1858), 384. 

Cromwell lets them return, 257. 

expelled from England (1290), 118. 
" Jingo policy," 410. 

song (note), 410. 
Joan of Arc (1429-1431), 159. 

burned (143 0, iS9- 
John, reign of (1199-1216), 102-108. 

barons invite Louis of France, 107. 

battle of Bouvines, 105. 

death of, 108. 
, excommunicated and deposed, 104. 

good result of loss of Normandy, 103. 

grants the Great Charter, 106. 

interdict laid on England, 104. 

loses Normandy, 103. 

murder of Prince Arthur, 102. 

quarrels with the Church, 104. 

submits to the Pope, 104. 

the barons demand the Great Charter, 
105. 

tries to break the Charter, 107. 

value of Magna Carta, 106. 
Johnson, Samuel, 295, 351. 
Jubilee, Victoria's (1887), 391, 392. 

the "Diamond" (1897), 392. 
" Junius " attacks George III, 338. 
Juries, grand, organized, 95. 
Jury, origin of trial by, 95 . 
Justice, administration of, 50, 73, 77, 90, 243, 
270, 273, 277, 280, 284. 

see Courts, Judges, Jury, Laws. 
Jutes, the, enter Britain, 30. 

King, power of the Saxon, 46-48. 
allowance to, 373. 
and Act of Settlement, 288. 
choice of, by Parliament, 175. 
choice of, by the Witan, 47. 
dispensing power of, 279. 
" Divine Right of Kings," 232, 239, 295, 

302, 306. 
Dunning's famous resolution respecting 

the (1780), 330- 
feudal dues of, abolished (1660), 273. 
"George, be" (George III), 330. 
has lost power of veto, 369. 
has no political power to-day, 368-369. 
now the creature of Parliament, 288. 
office of, abolished (1649), 251. 
office of, restored (1660), 261. 
power of, limited, 288; (note), 373. 
power of, under the Tudors, 180, 181, 

195, 198. 
receives annual allowance (1660), 273. 



Ix 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



King, succession of, to the crown, 47, 175, 
198; (note), 205. 

the Norman, 76. 

the, vs. the barons, 69, 104-106. 

under Bill of Rights (1688), 288. 

see Crown, Constitution, Cabinet, Gov- 
ernment, Magna Carta, Petition of 
Right, Bill of Rights. 
" King Monmouth," see Monmouth. 
" King's evil," touching for the, 295. 
" King's friends," the (George III), 338. 
" Kirke's Lambs " (1685), 277. 
Kitchener, Lord, 406. 
Knights and knighthood, 81, 129, 145. 

motto of, 417. 
Knights Hospitallers, 144. 
Knights Templars, 144. 

Labor organizations (guilds), 55, 84, 147. 

Arch's agricultural union, 385. 

boycotting in Ireland, 388. 

discouraging outlook of agricultural, 400. 

distress, 132, 135, 197, 202, 348, 355, 388, 
392, 400.- 

effect of steam on, 348. 

effects of " Black Death" on (1349), 132. 

effects of enclosure of commons on, 202. 

eight-hour day established (note), 400. 

great strike of (1349), 132. 

in Ireland, see Ireland. 

insurrections, 135-137, 348. 

laws concerning (1349), 132. 

laws concerning (1833), 364-365. 

laws concerning (1871-1876), 400. 

organizations (trades unions), 400. 

progress of laboring classes, 400. 

reforms, 364, 365, 400. 

representation of, in Parliament, 376, 
385. 

severe laws against combinations of, 400. 

severe laws against, repealed, 400. 

troubles, 132, 135-137, 148. 

see Agriculture, Trade, Laws, Guilds, 
Manufactures. 
Lamb, Charles, 351. 
Lancaster, house of, 150. 

Red Rose, 164. 
Lancaster and York, union of, 179. 
Lancastrian and Yorkist period (1399-1485), 

175- 
Land tenure (449-1066), 47. 

Act, Irish (1870), 387. 

Act, Irish (1881), 389. 

church, 72. 

entail of, 119, 371. 

feudal grants of, 49, 370. 

Folkland, 48. 



Land, grants to Peers, 370. 

grants by Henry VIII, 197. 

grants by William I, 61. 

great survey of (1085), 65. 

important laws respecting (1285-1290), 
119, 143. 

League in Ireland (1879), 388. 

Monastic confiscated by Henry VIII, 
197. 

out of cultivation at present, 401. 

present ownership of, 370, 371, 402. 

responsibility of land holders, 370. 

seizure of unenclosed (1547-1553), 202. 

small agricultural holdings, 401. 

tenure (1066-1154), 78. 

see Agriculture, Feudalism, Labor, 
Laws, Taxation, Villeins. 
Laud, Archbishop, 242, 244. 
Law, common, the, 47, 51. 

canon or church, 90, 112. 

courts, see Courts. 

Dispensing Power (note), 279, 280, 281. 

Henry VIII's proclamations were, 195. 

how made, 47, 76, 113, 115; (note), 373. 

see Parliament and Laws. 
Laws, Administration of Justice Act (1774), 

335- 
Agricultural Holdings Act (1892), 401. 
Alfred's (871-901), 40. 
Arms, Assize of (ri8i) (note), 88. 
Army Commission Purchase Act (1871), 

395- 
Articles of Religion (1552), 203. 
Articles of Religion (1563), 212. 
Assize of Arms (1181) (note), 88. 
Assize of Clarendon (1166) (note), 94. 
Assize, Grand, the (1189) (note), 94. 
Assize of Northampton (1176) (note), 94. 
Attainder, Act of (1689), 290. 
Attainder, Acts of (Henry VIII), 195. 
Ballot Act (1872), 396. 
Bill of Rights (1689), 287. 
Board Schools Act (1870), 386. 
Boston Port Act (1774), 335- 
Bribery Act (1883) (note), 396. 
Canon (1236), 112. 

Catholic Emancipation Act (1829), 357. 
Chimney Sweep Act (1833), 365. 
Civil-Service Reform Act (1870), 395. 
Clerical Subscription Act (1866) (note), 

212. 
Coercion Act (1887), 390. 
compulsory church rates repealed (1868), 

386. 
Conformity Act (James I), 232. 
Conformity, Occasional, Act (171 1) 

(note), 302. 



INDEX 



Ixi 



Laws, Conspiracy Acts (1825), 400. 

Constitutions of Clarendon (1164), 90. 
Conventicle Act (1664), 265. 
Com Law Act (1837), 400. 
Com Law Act repealed (1846), 378, 400. 
Corporation Act (1661), 264. 
Corporation Act repealed (1828), 357. 
County Councils Act (1888), 385, 394. 
Death Duties Act (1894), 402. 
De Donis (1285), 119 (note), 143. 
Disabling Act (1678), 271. 
Disestablishment of Irish Church (1869) 

(note), 386. 
Disfranchisement Act (1430), 160, 175. 
Education Act (1870), 386. 
Education Act (1891), 398. 
Edward the Confessor's (1042-1066), 59, 

105. 
employment of women and children 

(1833), 365. 
Ehglishry (William I), 63. 
Entail (1285), 119, 143. 
Factoiy Reform Act (1833), 364. 
Five-Mile Act (1665), 265. 
Forest Acts (William I), 64. 
Habeas Corpus Act (1679), 273. 
Heresy, Statute of (1401), 153, 176. 
House Tax (1851), 379. 
Indemnity A^ct (1727), 357. 
Irish Church disestablished (1869), 386. 
Irish Land Act (1870), 387. 
Irish Land Act (1881), 389. 
Irish Local Government Act (1898), 404. 
Jews, Emancipation Act (1858), 384. 
Judicature Acts (1873, 1877J, 396. 
Land Acts (1285-1290), 119, 143, 144. 
Labor Acts (1349), 132. 
Labor Acts (1825), 400. 
Labor Acts (1833), 364, 365. 
Labor Acts (1871-1876), 400. 
Labor Acts (1894) (note), 400. 
Land, Irish (1870), 387. 
Land, Irish (1881), 389. 
Land League, Irish, suppressed (1881), 

389- 
Liveries, Statute of (Henry VII), 183. 
Local Government Act (1888), 385, 394. 
Local Government Act, Irish (1898), 404. 
manufactures, colonial, 332. 
Mortmain (1279), 119, 143, 144. 
Municipal Reform Act (1835), 393- 
Mutiny Act (1689), 286, 289. 
Navigation Acts (1651-1672), 257, 331. 
Navigation Acts repealed (1849), 378. 
Oaths Act (1888), 384. 
Occasional Conformity Act (171 1) (note), 

302. 



Laws, Parish Councils Act (1894), 385. 394- 
Parish Councils, applied to Ireland 

(1898), 404. 
Petition of Right (1628), 240-241. 
Poll Tax Act (1381), 135. 
Poor Law (1601), 223. 
Poor Law (1834), 392. 
Postage Act, Cheap (1840), 374. 
Poynings' Act (Ireland) (1494) (note), 

182. 
Poynings' Act repealed (1782), 345. 
Praemunire, Statute of (1353), 131, 144, 

193- 
Press Censorship Act expires (1695), 289. 
Property Qualification Act (1711) (note), 

375- 
Property Qualification Act, repealed 

(1858) (note), 375. 
Provisions of Oxford (1258), iii. 
Provisors, Statute of (1351), 131, 144. 
Quebec Act (1774), 335. 
Quia Emptores (1290), 119, 143. 
Reform Act (1832), 363. 
Reform Act (1867), 384. 
Reform Act (1884), 385. 
Registration Act (1843), 396. 
Regulating Act (1774), 335. 
Royal Marriage Act (1772) (note), 356. 
Schism Act (1714) (note), 302. 
Septennial Act (1716), 317. 
Settlement Act (1701), 288. 
" Six Acts" (1819), 355. 
" Six Articles " (1539), 199. 
Slave Trade Abolition Act (1807), 340. 
Slavery Abolition Act (1833), 364. 
Stamp Act (Anne), 379. 
Stamp Act repealed (1855), 379- 
Stamp Act, Colonial (1765), 332, 333. 
Stamp Act, Colonial, repealed (1766), 

333- 
Supremacy Act (1534), 194. 
Supremacy Act (1559), 212. 
Tallage repealed. Appendix, xxx. 
Tea Duty Act (1767), 333- 
Test Act (1673), 270. 
Test Act suspended (1687), 279. 
Test Act repealed (1828), 357. 
Toleration Act (1689), 286, 289. 
trade, colonial (George III), 331, 332. 
trade, free (1849), 378. 
Trades Unions Acts (1871-1876), 400. 
Triennial Act (1641), 244. 
Triennial Act partially repealed (1664) 

(note), 244. 
Triennial Act reenacted (1694) (note), 

244. 
Uniformity Act (1549), 203. 



ixii 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Laws, Uniformity Act (1552), 203. 
Uniformity Act (1559), 211. 
Uniformity Act (1662), 264. 
union of England and Scotland (1707), 

■ 303- 
union of Great Britain and Ireland (1800), 

346. 
university, religious tests abolished 

(1871), 398. 
Winchester, Statute of (1285), 118. 
Window Tax repealed (1851), 379. 
Woman Suffrage Act (1835), 384. 
Laws relating to the army, 88, 286, 289, 395, 
396- 
church, 119, 131, 143, 144, 153, 176, 193, 
203, 211, 212, 232, 264, 270, 279, 302, 
_ 357, 385, 386, 398. 
civil service, 395. 
colonies, 332, 333, 335. 
commerce, 257, 331, 340, 378, 
constitution, 240, 241, 273, 288, 303, 346. 
crime, 311. 
education, 386, 398. 
elections, 160, 174, 363, 384, 3^5, 396, 
labor, 132, 364, 365, 400. 
land, 119, 143, 364, 365, 389, 40O) 401 • 
local government, 385, 394, 404. 
manufactures, 332. 

Parliament, 244, 271, 317, 357, 375, 384. 
poor, 223, 392. 
press, 289. 

public order, 17, 118, 119, 355, 392. 
religion, 153, 176, 199, 203,212, 264, 265, 

286, 289, 357, 384, 39S. 
suffrage, 160, 174, 363, 384, 385, 396. 
tariff, 378, 400, 401. 
taxation, 332, 333, 379, 400; Appendix 

(note), XXX. 
trade, 332, 378. 
League and Covenant, see Covenant. 
" Learning, the New," 188. 
Legislation, see Laws and Parliament. 
Letters, see Post-Office and Postal Reform. 
" Levellers," the, 252. 
Liberal party (1833), 364. 
Liberty, colonial, 331. 

constitutional, see Bill of Rights, Ha- 
beas Corpus, Magna Carta, Petition 
of Right, 
of labor, 400. 

political, 363, 384, 385, 393, 394, 396. 
of the press, 289. 

religious, 286, 289, 357, 384, 386, 398. 
of serfs and villeins, 137. 
of trade and commerce, 378. 
Life, mode of, 148, 217, 228, 311. 
" Lilli Burlero," song of, 279. 



Lisle, Alice, burned (1685), 278. 
Literature, 52, 53, 82, 137. 

beginning of English, 133. 

later, 146, 217, 218, 226, 304, 308, 309, 

3Si> 390, 391- 
Loans extorted by kings, 240. 

see Benevolences. 
Lollards, rise of the (14th century), 139, 144. 

persecution of the (1401), 153. 

insurrection of (1413), 155. 

see Wycliffe. 
London founded, 19, 20. 

William I's charter to, 59. 

the " city " of (note), 393. 

" Stone," 161. 

Tower of, built, 61. 

on side of political liberty. 

plague in (1665), 267. 

great fire of (1666), 267. 

"the lights of," 350. 
Londonderry, siege of (1689), 290. 
"Long Parliament," the, see Parliament. 
" Lords Appellant" (1388), 140. 
Louis XIV and Charles II, 269, 270. 

and James II, 284, 290. 

and " Pretender," 298, 303. 

and Anne, 298. 

and William III, 293. 
Ludd's insurrection (181 1), 348. 
Lyndhurst, Lord, 371. 

Macadam's improved roads (1798-1827), 365. 
Macdonald, Flora, and the " Pretender," 323. 
Machinery, the steam engine invented (1698), 
309- 

the steam engine improved (1712), 309. 

the steam engine patented by Watt 
(1769), 347. 

cotton (i8th century), 348. 

Ludd's insurrection against (181 1), 348. 

Stephenson's locomotive (1830), 365. 
" Mad Parliament," see Parliament. 
Magna Carta (1215), 105, 106. 

terms and value of, 106. 

confirmed, 107. 

reissued by Henry III, 109, 112. 

curse pronounced on breakers of (1253), 
112. 

forms part of "the Bible of English 
liberty," 287. 

see Charters, Constitution, and Govern- 
ment. 
Mahan, Captain, cited (note), 419. 
" Manchester Massacre," the (1819), 355. 
Manners and customs, see Life, modes of. 
Manor-houses, 218, 227. 
Manufactures,woollen, introduced (i339),i2S. 



INDEX 



Ixiii 



Manufactures, restrictions on American (i8th 

century), 332. 
Margaret of Anjou, 159, 165, 167. 
Mark, value of the (note), 88. 
Marlborough's campaigns (1702-1709), 299. 

the Duchess of, and Anne, 300, 301. 
Martyrs, religious, 139, 153, 155, 176, 195, 

200, 207, 212, 285, 308. 
Mary, Princess, igS. 

Queen, reign of (1553-1558), 205-209. 

Wyatt's rebellion, 206. 

execution of Lady Jane Grey, 206. 

marries Philip II of Spain, 206. 

attempts to restore Catholicism, 206. 

persecution of Protestants, 207. 

loses Calais, 208. 

deserves pity rather than hatred, 208. 
Mary, Queen (see William and Mary), 270. 
Mary Queen of Scots, 203, 219, 220, 224. 

beheaded, 220. 
Masham;^Mrs. , and Queen Anne, 301. 
Mason and Slidell (1861), 382. 
Match, the friction (1834), 366. 
Matilda claims crown (1139), 73. 
Maude claims crown (1139), 73. 
Meetings, public, suppressed (1S19), 355. 
Mendicant Friars (see Friars), no, 138. 
Methodists, rise of the (1739), 328. 
Middlesex, origin of name, 32. 
Military affairs (1066-1154), 78. 

(1154-1399), 144. 

(1399-1485), 176. 

(1485-1603), 225. 

(1603-1714), 308. 

see Armor, Arms, Army, Artillery, Bat- 
tles, Feudalism, Gunpowder, Mili- 
tia, Mutiny Act, Navy, Scutage, 
Wars. 
Militia, national, 52, 78, 88. 

Charles I and the, 246. 
, ■ Parliament and the, 246. 

see Military Affairs. 
Milton, John, 251, 262, 263, 266. 
Mines, employment of women and children 

in, 3&5- 
Ministers, the, "are king," 316. 

Crown cannot now remove, 368. 

see Cabinet, Constitution, Goverament, 
Prime Minister. 
Missionaries (Roman-Britain), 21. 

(Saxon-Britain), 33, 34. 

Augustine's (597), 33. 

Mendicant Friars (1221), no. 

Wycliffe's " Poor Priests " (1378), 138. 

Wesley's work (i8th century), 328. 

see Christianity, Church, Friars, Monks, 
Religion. 



Monasteries built (Saxon period), 35, 36. 
good work done in, 35, 36, 197, 204. 
schools connected with, 35, 82, 204. 
books written in, 35, 36, 53, 82. 
attacked by Danes, 38. 
reforms in, 41, 63, no. 
decline of, 188. 
destroyed by Henry VIII (1536-1539), 

195- 

effect of destruction of, 197. 
Money, Parliament gets control of nation's 
(1407), 152. 

how Henry VII extorted, 1S2. 

how James I raised, 237. 

extorted by Charles I, 240. 

how Charles II obtained, 269. 

bills must originate with House of Com- 
mons, 152, 372 ; Appendix, xii. 

value of, varies, 79, 88, 135, 165. 

see Benevolences, House of Commons. 
Monk, Admiral, 258. 

General, 260. 
Monks, labors of the, 35, 36. 

literary work of the, 35, 36, 53, 82. 

educational work of the, 35, 82, 204. 

charitable work of the, 197. ■ 

vs. the regular clergy, 41. 

Dunstan's labors among the, 4r. 

reforms among the, 41, 63, no. 

effect of destruction of monasteries on, 
197. 

see Monasteries. 
Monmouth, Duke of, 272. 
Monmouth's rebellion (James II), 275, 276. 

execution, 276. 
Monopolies, Elizabeth gives up, 216. 

revived by Charles I, 241. 
Montagu, Lady, 319. 
Montrose, Duke of, 253. 
More, Sir Thomas, and the " New Learn- 
ing," 189. 

Utopia, 217. 

beheaded (1535), 195. 
Mortimer, Roger, 123, 125. 
Mortimer's claim to the crown (1399), 150, 

161. 
"Morton's Fork" (Henry VII), 182. 
Municipal reform (1835), 384. 
Mutiny Act, see Laws. 

Names, Celtic, Danish, Norman, Roman, 

Saxon, 12, 13. 
Napoleon's intended invasion of England 

(1804), 340. 
Napoleon beaten at Waterloo (181 5), 343. 
National Council (Saxon), 45, 47, 48. 
(Norman), 76. 



Ixiv 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



National Council (Parliament) (1246), 109. 

National Debt, see Debt. 

Nationality, growth of feeling of (1485), 181, 

182. 
Navigation Laws enforced (1760), 331. 

see Laws. 
Navigation, steam, 350. , 

Navy, in general, 14, 40, 52, 146, 222, 226, 
342. 

Alfred's, 40, 52. 

(1154-1399), 146. 

(1485-1603), 226. 

rise of the English from 1588, 222. 

English, beaten by Americans (1812), 
342. 

see Armada, Battles, Blake, Monk, 
Nelson, Russell. 
Nelson, Admiral, 222. 
New Forest, 64. 

" New Model" army (see Army), 247. 
Newspaper, the first regular (1622), 236. 

the first daily (1703), 304. 
Newspapers, rise of political (1642-1649), 
247. 

censorship of, removed (1689), 289, 338. 

report debates in Parliament (George 

HI), 338- 

tax on, repealed (1855), 379. 
New Style [reckoning time] (1752), 325. 
Newton, Sir Isaac, discovers law of gravita- 
tion, 273. 

epitaph on, 273. 
New York, origin of the name, 266. 
New Zealand, England acquires, 327. 

progress of, 402. 
Nobility, Saxon (1449-1066), 48, 61. 

Norman (1066-1154), 78. 

how titles of, are conferred (note), 143. 

wealth of the (15th century), 160. 

dangerous quarrels of (15th century), 
160. 

destruction of, by Wars of the Roses 
(1455-1485), 174, 180. 

English contrasted with French, 370. 

the new (Henry VIII), 197, 370. 

enclose common lands (1547-1553), 202. 

present condition of the, 370. 

number of degrees of the (note), 143. 

children of, are commoners, 370. 

courtesy titles of children of, 371. 

most old families of, are now extinct, 
370. 

are recruited from the people, 371. 

property of, entailed, 371. 

are politically conservative, 371. 

number of, in House of Lords, 371. 

see Barons, Feudalism, Peers. 



Nonconformists driven out of England, 232^ 
234- 

vs. Dissenters (note), 264. 

see Religion. 
Non- Jurors (1689), 286. 
Normandy, John's loss of (1204), 103. 

Edward III renounces claim to (1360), 
130. 
Norman invasion of England (1066), 56. 
Norman kings (1066-1154), 56. 
Normans, see Northmen. 
North, Lord, 330. 
Northmen invade England (871), 38. 

invade France, 42. 

get name of Normans, 42. , 

what they did for England, 45. 

see Alfred, Danes, Treaty of Wedmore. 

Gates, Titus, and the " Popish Plot " (1678), 

270, 275. 
G'Connell, Daniel, 358. 
Gldcastle, Sir John (1413), 155. 
Gld Sarum (" rotten borough "), 361. 
Gld Style (reckoning time) (1752), 325. 
" Gpium war," the, see War. 
Grange Free State, 407, 409, 410. 

annexed (1900), 410. 
Grangemen, origin of the name, 290. 

in rebellion of 1798, 346. 
Grange-Stuart, House of (1689-1702), 285. 
Grdeal, trial by (Saxon period), 50. 
Grdinances of Reform (13 10), 122. 
Grleans, Siege of, see Battles. 
Gutlanders in the Transvaal, 409. 
" Gver the Water to Charlie " (song), 323. 
Gxford, no, 146, 188, 280. 

Provisions of (1258), in. 
Gxygen, Priestley discovers (1774), 349. 

Palatine Counties, 62. 

Panic, financial (" South Sea Bubble," 1720), 

317-319- 
financial, Bank of England suspends pay- 
ment (1797, 1811), 344. 
railway (1847-1849), 366. 
Chartist demonstration (1848), 375. 
Parish Councils Act, see Laws. 
Parliament, Acts of, see Laws, 
name first used (1246), 109. 
rise of the House of Commons (1265), 

113- 
first complete and regular (1295), 115. 
first complete and regular, Appendix, x. 
gets sole right to levy taxes (1297), 

117- 
the Commons gain share in legislation 
(1322), 122. 



INDEX 



Ixv 



Parliament, is divided into two distinct 
Houses (1332-1343), 131, 143. 

House of Commons gains power of im- 
peachment (1376), 131 ; Appendix, 
xii. 

gets control of the nation's purse (Edward 
III), 131. 

limits votes of money to specific pur- 
poses (1406), Appendix, xii. 

House of Commons gains the sole right 
to make grants of money (1407), 
152, 372. 

House of Commons and money giants 
(1407), Appendix, xii. 

rights of electors to, restricted (1430), 
160, 161. 

property qualification for members im- 
posed (1430), 160, 161. 

imposes checks on Henry VII (1485), 181. 

abbots cease to sit in the House of 
-iords (1539). 197- 

subserviency of, to Henry VIII (1539), 
19s, 198, 

gives Henry VIII 's proclamations force 
of law (1539), 195. 

Catholics excluded from House of Com- 
mons (1559), 212. 

makes James I king (1603), 229. 

House of Commons controls its elec- 
tions (1604), Appendix, xv. 

and Gunpowder Plot (1605), 233. 

House of Commons and great protest 
(1621), 233. 

James I tears record of House of Com- 
mons (1621), 233. 

Charles I and the Petition of Ri^ht 
(1628), 240. 

Grand Remonstrance of House of Com- 
mons (1641), 244. 

first Triennial Act (1641), 244. 

Charles I attempts to arrest five mem- 
bers of the House of Commons 
(1642), 245. 

raises an army (civil war) (1642), 246. 

Pride's purge of (1648), 249. 

House of Lords abolished (1649), 251. 

Cromwell expels (1653), 254. 

House of Lords restored (1660), 261 ; 
Appendix, xviii. 

Catholics totally excluded from both 
Houses of (1678-1829), 271. 

changes succession to the crown (Bill of 
Rights, 1689), 287-288. 

gets entire control of the army (Mutiny 
Act, 1689), 286. 

Triennial Act reenacted (1694) (note), 
244. 



Parliament limits succession to Protestants 

(1701), 288. 

property qualification imposed on (171 1) 
(note), 375. 

Septennial Act (17 16) (note), 244, 316. 

George III gets control of (1760), 330. 

House of Commons ceases to be a rep- 
resentative body (1760), 330. 

report of debates of, begin (1771), 339. 

Cunning's resolution in (1780), 330. 

right of people to elect candidates of 
their choice to (1782), conceded. 
Appendix, xxvi. 

Catholics readmitted to (1829), 357. 

many large towns not represented in 
(1832), 360. 

effects of Reform Bill on (1832), 363. 

Registration Act (1843), 396- 

publication of Division Lists (1857), Ap- 
pendix (note), xxvi. 

Jews admitted to (1858), 384. 

Second Reform Act (1867), 384, 394. 

the Ballot Act (1872), 396. 

the Bribery Act (1883) (note), 396. 

Third Reform Act (1884), 385, 394. 

religious tests in, abolished (1888), 398. 

sovereign can no longer veto acts of, 369. 

House of Commons now supreme, 368. 
Parliaments (special), " Addled " (1614), 236. 

" Barebone's " (1653), 254. 

first ''Convention" (1660), 260. 

second " Convention " (1689), 285. 

De Montfort's (1265), 113. 

the "Good" (1376), 133. 

the Irish, see Ireland. 

the " Long " (1640-1660), 244. 

the "Mad" (1258), iii. 

the " Merciless " (1388), 140. 

of Merton (1236), 112, 144. 

the "Model" (1295), 115. 

first " People's " (1886), 385. 

the " Rump " (1648-1653, 1659), 250, 251, 
254, 260, 261. 

the "Short" (1640), 243. 

see, in general. Bill of Rights, Cabinet, 
Charters, Constitution, Elections, 
Government, House of Commons, 
Ireland, Impeachment, Laws, Mag- 
na Carta, Mutiny Act, National 
Council, Peers, Petition of Right, 
Political Parties, Prime Ministers, 
Reform Acts, Scotland, Suffrage, 
Summary of Constitutional History 
in Appendix, Taxation, Witan, 
Witenagemot. 
Parr, Catherine, Queen of Henry VIII, igg. 
Parties, political, see Political Parties. 



Ixvi 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Pauperism (Henry VIII), 197, 198. 

(Elizabeth), 223. 

(1603-1714), 310, 

(George IV), 335. 

(Victoria), 392, 

Poor Law of 1601, 223. 

Poor Law of 1834, 392. 
Peace Conference, the Hague (1899), 404. 

Conference, the Hague, see Treaties. 

of Bretigny, see Treaties. 

of Ryswick, see Treaties. 

of Utrecht, see Treaties. 
Peel, Sir Robert, 358, 376, 400. 
Peerage (note), 143, 197, 369-373- 

general sketch of the, 369-373. 

how men are raised to the, 370. 

have generally opposed reforms, 371-372- 

see Barons, House of Lords, Land, No- 
bility, Peers. 
Peers, total number of, now, 371. 

are recruited from the people, '371. 

William IV grants power to create new, 

363- 

own large part of the land, 371. 

see Barons, Nobility, Peerage. 
Penance of Henry II, 93. 
Penny, value of (Henry II) (note), 88. 

value of, as wages (1381), i3S- 
People, progress of the English, 410-412. 
Percies, revolt of the (Henry IV), 151. 
Perrers, Alice, and Edward III, 134. 
Persecution of Catholics by Elizabeth, 212. 

of Catholics by Cromwell, 256. 

of Catholics by Charles II, 264, 265. ' 

of Catholics in 1689, 287. 

of Catholics by William and Mary, 292. 

of Covenanters by Charles II, 265. 

of Dissenters by Charles II, 264, 265. 

of Dissenters by Anne, 302. 

of Episcopalians (1647), 248. 

of Lollards by Henry IV, 153. 

of Pilgrims by James I, 234. 

of Protestants by Mary, 207. 

of Puritans by James I, 232, 234-236. 

of Puritans by Charles I, 242. 

of Unitarians by James I, 285, 308. 

of Unitarians (1689), 287. 

see Catholics, Ireland, Heresy, Laws, 
Lollards, Protestants, Puritans, 
Religion, Scotland. 
Personal government or sovereignty, 180, 
181, 224, 330, 368. 

government, see Crown, King, Govern- 
ment. 
" Peterloo," the massacre of (1819), 355. 
Petition, the great Puritan (1603), 230. 

the " Millenary " (1603), 231. 



Petition of Right, the (1628), 240 ; Appendix, 
xvi, xxix. 

of the Seven Bishops (1688), 281. 

of the Chartists (1848), 375. 
"Petitioners" (note), 271. 
Petroleum, introduction of, 399. 
Pevensey, 27, 31, 57. 
Philip II marries Queen Mary (1554), 206. 

wishes to marry Elizabeth (1558), 214. 

sends the Armada against England 
(1588), 221. 
Philippa, Queen, at Calais (1347), 130. 
Photography, introduction of (1839), 399. 
" Piers Plowman" written (1369), 133. 
Pilgrims, the, go to Holland and America, 
234- 

Chaucer's Canterbury, 137. 
Pillory, the, 311. 

Pitt, William (Earl of Chatham), could not 
be bribed, 320. 

Pittsburgh named for, 326. 

and the American Revolution, 333. 

labors to abolish the slave trade, 340. 

secures the union of Great Britain and 
Ireland (1800), 346. 

labors for Catholic representation in 
Parliament, 346. 
Plague (" Black Death," 1349), 132, 

effects on labor, 132. 

in London (1665), 267, 
Plot against Henry II, 96. 

Richard I, 100. 

Edward II, 124. 

Henry IV, 151, 161. 

Henry V, 155. 

Edward V, 170. 

the Princes in the Tower (Richard III), 
170, 173. 

Henry VII, 184. 

Queen Mary, 206. 

Queen Elizabeth, 219. 

James I (" Gunpowder Plot"), 233. 

James I (" Main Plot " and " Bye Plot ") 
(note), 238. 

Cromwell, 252, 258. 

Charles II ("Rye-House Plot"), 272. 

Charles II (so-called "Popish Plot"), 
270. 

James II, 275, 282. 

William and Mary, 286, 293, 294. 

Anne (" Pretender "), 313. 

George I (" Pretender"), 316. 

George II (" Pretender"), 323. 

English rule in Ireland (1798), 345, 346. 

George IV, 356. ' 

English rulei'i»» Ireland -by Fenians 
(Victoria), 389. 



INDEX 



Ixvii 



Plot, see Insurrections, Rebellion, Revolts, 
Wars. 

Poitiers, battle of, see Battles. 

Police, the new (1829), 358. 

Political "bosses" (note), 361. 
discontent, 355, 361. 

Political parties, rise of (Charles II), 271. 
present condition of, 394. 
see " Abhorrers," " Conservatives," 
" Country Party," " Liberals," " Pe- 
titioners," Tories, Whigs, Jacobites, 
Non-Jurors. 

Political reforms, see Reforms. 

see Act of Settlement, Ballot, Bill of 
Rights, Chartists, " Local Govern- 
ment Act/' Magna Carta, Petition 
of Right, Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, 
1884, Suffrage. 

Pc'"! tax first levied (1381), 135. 

Poor, the, 135, 137, 197, 202, 355, 365/405- 

Poor Law (1601, 1834), see Laws. 

" Poor Priests," Wycliffe's (1378), 138. 

Pope, the, sends missionaries to England 

(597)> 33- 
relations of clergy to the (975-992), 42. 
the, blesses William the Conqueror's 

invasion of England (1066), 56. 
Gregory VII resolves to reform the 

Church (WilHam I), 63. 
William I withstands the, 63, 64. 
William I's three rules respecting the, 

and the clergy, 64, 80. 
William Rufus and the, 70. 
Henry I I's controversy with the, 72, 80. 
the, proclaims Becket a saint (Henry II), 

92. 
John's quarrel with the (1208), 104. 
the, places England under an interdict 

(1208), 104. 
the, excommunicates John (1210), 104. 
the, deposes John, 104. 
John finally submits to the, 104. 
the, opposes Magna Carta (12 15), 107. 
appeals to the, are forbidden (1351, 1353), 

131, 144. 
grants Henry VIII permission to marry 

Catharine of Aragon, 191. 
the, makes Henry VIII "Defender of 

the Faith," 190. 
Cardinal Wolsey wishes to become, 192. 
Catharine of Aragon appeals to the, 

192. 
the, vs. Act of Praemunire, 193. 
the, threatens to excommunicate Henry 

VIII, 194. 
Henry VIII declared head of the Eng- 
lish Catholic Church (1534), 194. 



Pope, England made independent of the 
(1534), 194, 225. 
the, excommunicates Henry VIII, 195. 
the, deposes Henry VIII, 195. 
Henry VIII hangs those who acknowl- 
edge the, 200. 
Queen Mary acknowledges the, 206. 
the, declares Queen Elizabeth illegiti- 
mate, 212. 
the, disgusted with James II, 283. 
Toleration Act denied to those who 

acknowledge the (1689), 287. 
those who acknowledge the, are ex- 
cluded from the throne (1689, 1701), 
288. 
see Catholics, Christianity, Church, 
Courts, Constitutions of Clarendon, 
Heresy, Laws, Missionaries, Mon- 
asteries, Monks, Prsemunire, Pro- 
visors, Religion, Supremacy. 
Pope, Alexander (poet), 304. 
" Popish Plot," the so-called, see Plot. 
Postage, high rates of (1837) (note), 374. 

cheap, established (1839-1840), 374, 399. 
stamps introduced (1840), 374. 
" Post Nati" (Scotch, 1603) (note), 229. 
Post-Office established (James I), 225. 

see Postage. 
Potato, introduced by Raleigh (i6th cen- 
tury), 377. 
failure of crop (1845), 377. 
failure of crop (Irish famine) (1845- 

1846), 377. 
partial failure of crop (1876-1879), 388. 
" Potwalloper" (a voter) (1832), 360. 
Pound, value of the (Norman Period), 79. 
Poynings' Act (Ireland), see Laws. 
Praemunire, Act of, see Laws. 
Prayer-Book, first Protestant (1549), 203. 
Catholic, restored by Queen Mary, 

211. 
Protestant, reinstated (1559), 211. 
use of, made compulsory (1559, 1611, 

1662), 211, 232, 264. 
Charles I attempts to force, on the 
Scottish Church (1637), 243. 
Presbyterian element in Parliament, 244. 
Presbyterianism established in England 
(1647), 248-249. 
in Scotland, 307. 
Presbyterians turned out of their pulpits 

(1662), 265. 
Press, Caxton sets up the first, in England 
(1477), 167, 176. 
used for political purposes, 180, 247, 338. 
censorship of the, 289. 
freedom of, established (1689), 289, 290, 



Ixviii 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Press, freedom of, to report parliamentary 
debates (177 1), 338. 
power of the, 304, 305. 
see Books, Newspapers, Printing. 
" Pretender," the Old (1688, 1715), 283, 298, 
313- 
the Young {1745), 323- 
Pretenders, Symnel and Warbeck (Henry 

VII), 184. 
Pride, Col., purges Parliament (1648), 249. 
Priestley, Dr., discovers oxygen (1774), 349- 
Prime Minister, the first (1721), 315. 
Robert Walpole as (1721), 315, 320. 
the power of, to-day, 368. 
see Cabinet, Constitution, Government. 
Prince Albert, see Albert. 

of Wales, the first (1284), 115. 
Printing introduced into England (1477), 167, 
176, 180. 
see Caxton, Books, Newspapers, Press. 
Prison reform, see Reforms. 
Proclamation of neutrality, Victoria's (1861), 

382. 
Proclamations, Henry VIII's, given force 

of law, 195. 
Profanity, common, 149. 

Elizabeth's, 215. 
Progress of England summarized, 391-406, 

410-420. 
Progresses, royal, 216. 
Property, real estate, entailed, 371. 

see Land, Laws, Taxation, Parliament. 
Protector, Richard, Duke of Gloucester 
(1483), 169. 
Cromwell, Oliver (1653), 254. 
Cromwell, Richard (1658), 259. 
Protectorate, England under a (1653-1659), 

254-261. 
Protestant religion established (1549)) 202, 

225. 
Protestantism and Catholicism compared, 



Puritans, Elizabeth puts a number to death, 
212. 
Stubbs' right hand cut off, 214. 
the Great Petition of the (1603), 230. 
the " Millenary Petition" of (1603), 231. 
what they demanded, 231. 
Hampton Court Conference (1604), 231, 
James I threatens to make them con- 
form, 232, 234. 
many driven out of the Church, 232. 
many emigrate, 235. 
7/s. Pilgrims, 235. 

emigrate to Massachusetts (1630), 236. 
persecution of, by Charles I, 242. 
the Declaration of Sunday Sports exas- 
perates (1633), 242. 
the, burn the Declaration (1644), 242. 
Charles I's difficulty with the Scotch 

(1637), 243. 
the " Roundheads " were generally, 246. 
in the civil war (1642), 246. 
fanaticism of the (Commonwealth), 256. 
reaction against (Charles II), 262. 
Hampden and Milton, noble types of, 

262. 
see Covenant, Covenanters, Persecu- 
tion, Presbyterians, Religion. 
Purveyance, right of, 176, 306. 
Pym, John, 240, 244, 245. 

Quakers in England, 256, 257. 
Quebec taken (1759), 326. 
Queen, not expedient for a, to reign in 12th 
century, 73. 
see Crown. 
Quotations from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 

53- 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 238. 
Shakespeare, i, 141, 151, 154, iS*?* if'3> 

164, 166, 171, 193, 216. 
see Songs and Ballads. 



and Cathohcism, England divided be- 
tween, 200, 206, 209, 210, 213. 
. plots against, 219, 220. 
see Christianity, Church, Laws, Martyrs, 
Persecution, Puritans, Religion. 
Provisions of Oxford (1258), iii; Ap- 
pendix, X. 
Provisors, Statute of, see Laws. 
Punishments, number of capital (George 

HI), 339- 
brutal (George III), 339. 
reform in, 339. 
Puritans, origin of (Elizabeth), 210, 225, 307. 
in Scotland (and see Covenanters), 210, 

230, 243. 



Rebellion against William I (1068), 60. 
of the barons (William Rufus), 69. 
of the barons (Henry I), 72. 
of the barons (Henry II), 93, 94. 
of the barons, end of the (1174), 94. 
civil war (Henry II), 93. 
of Henry I I's sons, 96. 
of Simon de Montfort (1264), 112. 
against Edward I, 116, 117. 
against Edward II, 123. 
Watt Tyler's (1381), 135, 136. 
in favor of Richard II (1399), 151- 
against Henry IV (1399), 151. 
of Owen Glendower (1399), 151. 
of the Percies (1407), i5i> 152- 



INDEX 



Ixix 



Rebellion of the Lollards (1414), 155. 

Jack Cade's (1450), 161. 

against Richard III (1485), 171-173. 

of Symnel and Warbeck (Henry VII), 
184. 

against Henry VIII (1537), 196. 

against Queen Mary (1554), 206. 

in Ireland (1595), 223. 

against Charles I (civil war), 245. 

against the Commonwealth (1649-1651), 
252. 

against James II (1685), 275. 

against James II (1688), 282, 283. 

of the " Old Pretender " (1715), 316, 317. 

of the "Young Pretender" (1745), 323. 

of the American colonies (1775), 335. 

of Ireland (1798), 344-347- 

of Ireland (1803), 346-347- 

Sepoy in India (1857), 381. 

in Egypt (188 1), 406. 

in Egypt (1883), 406. 

Boer, so-called (i8gg), 409-410. 

see Civil War, Plots, "Wars. 
Reform, army (187 1), 395-396. 

Catholic Church of England, 41, 63, no, 
120, 138, 144. 

Church of England, Protestant, 194, 203, 

225, 287, 385. 

Church, English, in Ireland (1869), 386. 

civil-service (1870), 395. 

courts of law, 73, go, 94, 95, 142, 237, 

284, 396. 397- 
education, iii, 146, 188, 189, 204, 218, 

226, 386, 397. 

elections, 113, 115, 143, 3/6, 396- 
feudal system, 62, 66, 80, 273 ; Appendix, 

vi. 
government, 66, 71, 105-107, in, 113, 

115, 117, 122, 131, 133, 142, 152, 176, 

216, 240, 241, 244, 273, 287,307, 314- 

316, 363, 368, 369, 384. 
insane, treatment of the, 397. 
labor, 137, 147, 365, 400, 401, 410. 
land, 62, 119, 143, 387, 389. 
law, 339, 357, 397. 
liberty of the press, 289, 290, 304, 305, 

339- 
local government, gg, iig, 142, 358, 385, 

394-395- 
money, 87, 22S, 405. 
municipal (1835), 384. 
political, 237, 273, 287, 307, 357, 363, 371, 

372, 376, 384. 
poor, management of the (1601), 223. 
poor, management of the (1834), 3g2. 
poor, encouragement of thrift among 

the, 405. 



Reform, prison, 339. 

religious, 41, 63, no, 120, 138, 144, ig4, 

203, 225, 231, 287, 328, 32g, 357, 3g8. 
representation in Parliament, 113, 115, 

357, 359-363, 384, 393-394, 398- 
sanitary, 217, 3g9, 411. 
slavery (villeinage), 137. 
slavery, black (1833), 364. 
slave trade (1807), 340. 
suffrage, 359-363, 376, 384, 393- 
taxation, 107, 117, 171, 176, 216, 306, 

379- _ 
of Victorian period, 376, 378, 379, 384, 

385, 386, 387, 389, 392, 393, 394, 395, 

396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 403, 404, 

410-412, 416, 417. 
Reformation, the Protestant in England, first 

steps toward, 138, 139, 144, 194. 
established by Edward VI, 202. 
opposed by Mary, 206. 
finally established by Elizabeth, 21 1-2 13. 
see Protestantism, Religion. 
Regent, Prince of Wales acts as (1811-1820), 

354- 
Regicide judges punished (Charles II), 264. 
Religion, prehistoric period, 3, 6, 9-10. 
of the Druids, 9-10. 
Anglo-Saxon (449-1066), 51. 
Norman period (1066-1154), 80. 
Angevin period (ii54-i3gg), 144. 
Lancastrian and Yorkist period (1399- 

1485), 176. 
Tudor period (1485-1603), 225. 
Stuart period (1603-1714), 307. 
Christianity first introduced into Britain 

(Roman period), 21. 
coming of Augustine (597), 33. 
conversion of Kent, 34. 
conversion of the North, 34. . 
Christianity organized, 35. 
labors of the monks, 35. 
influence of Christianity on society, 36. 
political influence of Christianity (664), 

36. 
the Danes destroy the monasteries (871), 

38. 
Dunstan's reforms (loth century), 41. 
regular and secular clergy, 41. 
Pope Gregory's scheme of reform, 63. 
William I and the Pope, 63-64. 
William Rufus and Anselm (1093), 70. 
appointment of bishops settled (Henrv 

I), ^2. 

the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164), 

90. 
excommunication of Henry II, 91. 
murder of Becket (1170), 92-93. 



Ixx 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Religion, Henry IPs penance, 93-94- 
Richard goes to the Crusades, 98. 
purpose and results of the Crusades, 

lOO-IOI. 

John quarrels with the Church (1208), 
104. 

John submits to the Pope, 104. 

redresses the grievances of the Church, 
106. 

the Pope and the barons, 107. 

Henry III builds churches, no. 

reformation of (1221), no. 

the Mendicant Friars, work of, no. 

legislation respecting the Church, n9. 

Statute of Mortmain (1279), n9. 

Wycliffe's reformation (1378), 138. 

the first English Bible (1378), 138. 

the work of the " Poor Priests " (1378), 
138. 

the Lollards (14th century), 139. 

religious plays, 149. 

Persecution of the Lollards (1401), 153. 

the first martyr burned (1401), 153. 

first statute against heresy (1401), iS3- 

Henry VIII attacks Luther, 190. 

Henry VIII receives title of " Defender 
of the Faith," 190. 

Henry VIII is declared " Head of the 
Church" of England (1531), i94- 

Henry VIII declares England inde- 
pendent of the Pope (1534)) i94- 

Act of Supremacy (i534)> i94- 

Henry VIII executes More and Fisher, 

195- 
seizes and destroys the monasteries 

(1536-1539)) 195-197- 

effect of the destruction of the mon- 
asteries, 197. 

tVe " 5ix Articles " (1539), i99- 

England's position respecting (i539)> 200. 

Henry VIII executes upholders of the 
Pope as traitors, 200. 

Henry VIII executes Protestants as 
heretics, 200. 

Edward VI estabHshes Protestantism 
(1549), 202. 

Edward VI confiscates Catholic Church 
property, 203. 

effects of Catholicism vs. Protestantism, 
204. 

Mary endeavors to restore Catholicism, 
206-207. 

toleration unknown in Mary's age, 207. 

religious parties in EHzabeth's reign, 
209. 

Elizabeth finally establishes Protestant- 
ism, 211-213. 



Religion, the Puritans, 209, 210. 

Act of Uniformity (1559) (see Laws), 

211. 
High Commission Court established 

(1583), 212. 
second Act of Supremacy (1559), 212. 
the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563), 212. 
Plots against Protestantism (Elizabeth), 

219. 
Elizabeth had no deep convictions, 213. 
England halting between two opinions, 

213. 
the Great Puritan Petition (1603), 230. 
Hampton Conference (1604), 231. 
James threatens the Puritans (1604), 232. 
the Catholics and the Gunpowder Plot 

(1605), 233. 
the Puritan and the Pilgrim emigrations, 

234-236. 
Laud's persecution of the Puritans, 242. 
Charles I's " Declaration of Sunday 

Sports " (1.633), 242. 
Charles I's difficulty with the Scottish 

Church (1637), 243. 
the Commonwealth forbids the use of 

the English church service, 251. 
fanatics in (Commonwealth), 252. 
Puritan fanaticism (Cromwell), 256. 
Cromwell's toleration, 256-257. 
reaction from Puritanism (1660), 262. 
Puritanism ridiculed, 262. 
religious persecution (Charles II), 264. 
four acts against Nonconformists and 

Dissenters, 264-265. 
persecution of the Covenanters (Charles 

II), 265. 
Bunyan imprisoned (Charles II), 266. 
bravery of Puritan ministers (Charles 

II), 267. 
the so-called " Popish Plot " (Charles 

II), 270. 
Catholics excluded from Parliament 

(1678), 271. 
James II attempts to restore Catholicism 

(1685), 275. 
James II, his Declaration of Indulgence 

(1687), 280. 
James II imprisons the Seven Bishops, 

281. 
the Toleration Act (1689), 287. 
Catholics excluded from the throne, 

(1689, 1701), 288. 
High Church and Low Church (Anne), 

296. 
severe acts against Dissenters (Anne), 

302. 
rise of the Methodists (1739); 328. 



INDEX 



Ixxi 



Religion, the Lord George Gordon riots 
(1780), 337- 

repeal of the Test Act (1828), 357. 

Catholic Emancipation (1829), 357. 

Sepoy rebellion (1857), 381. 

the Jews admitted to ParHament (1858), 
384- 

abolition of compulsory church rates 
(i868), 386. 

disestablishment of the English Church 
in Ireland (1869), 386. 

religious tests abolished in the univer- 
sities (1871), 398. 

religious tests abolished in Parliament 
(1888), 398. 

see Christianity, Church, Pope, Refor- 
mation, Puritans, Dissenters, Laws, 
Persecutions. 
Remonstrance, Eliot's (1629), 241. 

the Grand (" Long Parliament"), 244. 
Republic^ England becomes a (1649), 251. 

England is now a, under name of a mon- 
archy, 417 ; Appendix, xxviii. 
Review of English history, 412-417. 
Revolution of 1688, benefits of the, 289. 

effect of the American, 337. 
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 352. 
Richard I, reign of (1189-1199), 97-102. 

goes to the Crusades, 98-100. 

taken prisoner, 100. 

ransomed, 100. 

sold charters to towns, 98-99. 
Richard II, reign of (1377-1399), 134-141- 

the new tax, 135. 

the Wat Tyler rebellion, 135, 136. 

the new movement in literature, 137. 

Wycliffe and the Lollards, 138, 139. 

the King's misgovernment, 139-140. 

the " Merciless Parliament," 140. 

deposed and murdered, 140. 

reported to be alive, 155. 

conspiracy in favor of, 151. 
Richard III, reign of (1483-1485), 170-174. 

revolts against, 171, 172. 

Henry Tudor claims the crown, 172. 

killed at Bosworth Field, 173. 
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Protector 
(1483), 169. 

murdered the Princes in the Tower, 
170. 
Riots, the poll tax (1381), 135, 137- 

the Lord George Gordon (1780), 337. 

the Reform Bill (1832), 362. 

Land, in Ireland (1879), 388, 389. 
Roads (Stuart period), 310. 
Roads, improvement in (1820-1830), 365. 
Roberts, Lord, 409. 



" Rocket," Stephenson's locomotive (1830), 

365. 
Romans, the, invade Britain (55 b.c.-a.d. 43), 
17-19. 

conquer Britain, 19-28. 

first of their colonies in Britain, 19. 

persecute Christians in Britain, 22. 

their civilization false, 24-28. 

forced to abandon Britain (410), 26. 

remains of their work, 24, 27. 

government and taxation, 22-28. 

good results of their conquest of Britain, 
28. 

names left by, in Britain, 12. 
Romilly, Sir Samuel, 339. 
" Root and Branch Bill " (Charles I), 244. 
Rose, the Red (Lancaster), 164. 

the White (York), 164. 
Roses, the Wars of the, see Wars. 

union of the red and white, 179. 
" Roundheads " (civil war, 17th century), 

246; (note), 271. 
Royal Society founded (1662), 272. 
" Rump Parliament," see Parliament. 
Runes, Saxon, 52. 
Runnymede, 106. 
Rupert, Prince, 246. 
Russell, Admiral, 293. 

Lord, executed, 272. 
Rye-House Plot, see Plots. 

Sacheverell's, Dr., sermons (17 10), 301, 302. 

Safety lamp invented (18 15), 350. 

St. Alban, 22. 

St. Albans, 22, 36, 105. 

St. Paul's Cathedral rebuilt, 268. 

Sanctuary, right of, 52, 170. 

Savings-banks established (1799), 405. 

Sawtrey, the first martyr (1401), 153- 

Saxon conquest, what it did for England, 45; 

Saxon period (449-1066), 46-55- 

Saxon pirates, 24. 

Saxons, origin of the name, 24. 

their continental homes, 30. 

tliey enter Britain (477), 3 1 . 

their wars with the Britons, 31-33. 

defeated by King Arthur (520), 32. 

in Kent, are converted to Christianity, 
34- 

furnish the first national king (828), 37. 
Schools, see Education. 
Science (Tudor period), 226. 

(Stuart period), 309. 

progress of (Victorian period), 391. 
Scotch, the, in the civil war (17th century), 
248. 

give up Charles I, 249. 



Ixxii 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Scotch treat with Charles I, 249. 

enter England in behalf of Charles I, 

249. 
proclaim Charles II king (1649), 253. 
Scotland, early history of (note), 116. 
conquest of (1290-1296), 116. 
regains its independence (13 14), 122, 123. 
war with England (1513), 190. 
the "Post Nati" (note), 229. 
free trade denied to (1603) (note), 229. 
partial union of, with England (1603), 

229. 
Covenanters persecuted in (1660), 265. 
final union of, with England (1707), 303. 
the " Old Pretender" in (1715), 316. 
the "Young Pretender" in (1745), 323- 
see Covenant, Scotland, James I. 
Scott, Sir Walter, 351. 

Scroggs, Chief-Justice, 270. 
Scutage, or shield-money, levied (1160), 88, 

144. 
Seal, the Great, of England, 251, 283. 
Sea power of England, rise of (i6th century), 

222. 
Search, right of, abandoned (19th century), 

342. 
Sedan chairs, 310. 

Self-denying Ordinance (1644, 1645), 247. 
Senlac, battle of, see Battles. 
Sepoy rebellion, see Rebellion. 
Serfs or villeins, see Villeins. 
Seven Bishops, the, vs. James II, 281. 
Seymour, Jane, Queen of 'Henry VIII, 198. 
Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth, 216, 218. 
Shakespeare's historical plays (note), 162. 

works, quotations from, see Quotations. 
Shelley, 351. 
Sheridan, 351. 
Sheriff, the, 50. 

Shield-money, or scutage, 88, 144. 
Shilling, value of the (1430) (note), 161. 
" Ship money " levied (Charles I), 242. 

Hampden refuses to pay, 243. 
" Short Parliament," the, see Parliament. 
Sidney, Algernon, executed (Charles II), 

272. 
" Six Acts," the, see Laws. 
" Six Articles," the, see Laws. 
Slavery abolished in the West Indies (1833), 

364- 
Slaves (Britons), 25. 
(Saxons), 33, 54. 
Saxon, in Rome, 33. 
Slave trade (isth century), 227. 
(i8th century), 303. 
abolition of the (1807), 340. 
Small-pox, inoculation for (172 1), 319. 



Small-pox, vaccination for (1796), 320. 

Smith, Adam, 332. 

Smith, Sydney, and the Reform Bill (1832), 

362. 
Socialists or communists (14th century), 
i3S> 139- 

modern demands of, 411, 412. 
Solemn League and Covenant, see Covenant. 
Songs and ballads. Armada, the, 221. 

Ballad of Agincourt, 157. 

" Bonny Dundee " (note), 292. 

Canute's Monks of Ely, 43. 

Comishmen, 281. 

Dibdin's England, 11. 

ElMott's Corn-Law Rhymes, 377. 

Fair Rosamond (note), 93. 

Jingo Song (note), 410. 

"Knights are dust," 129. 

" Lights of London," 350. 

" Lilli Burlero," 280. 

" Over the water to Charlie," 323. 

press, Caxton's (note), 168. 

Richard I's (note), 100. 

" Scots wha ha'e," 117. 

Sheriff muir, 317. 

Vicar of Bray (note), 213. 

" Wearin' o' the Green," 345. 

see Quotations, Shakespeare. 
Spain, the Armada, see Battles. 

Catholics of England, fight against, 221. 

James I truckles to, 233. 

War of the Spanish Succession, 296. 

England and our war with (note), 419. 

see Philip II, Wars. 
Spanish Succession, War of the (Anne) 

see Wars. 
Speaker, the, held in his chair (Charles I) 

241. 
Spectator, the, published (1711), 304. 
Speculation, South Sea Bubble (1720), 317, 

great railway (1845), 366. 
Spenser, 216, 218. 
" Spoils System," the, overthrown (1870) 

395- 
Sports, Declaration of Sunday (Charles I) 

242. 
Stamp Act, see Laws. 

tax on newspapers repealed (1855), 379 
Staples, or markets, 148. 
Star-Chamber, Court of, see Courts. 
Steam engine invented (1698), 309. 

improved (1712), 309. 

patented by Watt (1769), 347. 

results of use of, 348. 

applied to railways, see Railways. 
Steamboats introduced (1812), 350. 
Steamship lines established (1840), 350. 



INDEX 



Ixxiii 



Stephen, reign of (1135-1154), 73-75. 

Matilda claims the crown, 73. 

battle of the Standard, 74. 

castles built bj' barons, 74. 

civil war, 74. 

Treaty of Wallingford, 75. 
Stephenson, George, 365. 
" Stone of Destiny" captured, 117. 
Stonehenge, 10, 60. 
Strafford, Earl of, 241-244. 
Strikes, 132, 400. 

see Labor. 
Stuart, James, the " Old Pretender" (note) 
283, 305, 316. 

Charles, the " Young Pretender," 323 
Stuart, the house of, 229. 
Succession, the royal, how determined, 47 
175, 198. 

see Revolution of 1688, Act of Settle^ 
ment. 
SuezX^anal, England gets control of the, 406 
Suffrage, property qualification imposed 
(1430), 160, 161, 174. 

large cities without (George IV), 355. 

inequalities of (1830), 359-362. 

extended by Reform Act (1832), 361-362. 

municipal (1835), 384. 

Chartist movement (1848), 374-376. 

second Reform Act (1867), 384. 

third Reform Act (1884), 385. 

Local Government Act (1894), 385, 394. 

woman (1869-1894), 384, 395. 

and secret ballot, 396. 

and Registration Act, 396. 

general view of (1832-1894), 393. 

see Disfranchisement, Laws, Local Gov- 
ernment, Summary of Constitutional 
History in Appendix. 
Summary, general, of English history, 412- 
417. 

of Constitutional History, Appendix, i- 
xxviii. 
Suspending power, king's (note), 279. 
Sussex settled by the South Saxons, 31. 
Sweyn, the Dane, conquers England, 43. 

his reign, 43. 
Swift, Dean, 304, 344. 

on the misery of Ireland, 344. 
Symnel and Warbeck, the pretenders (Henry 
VII), 184. 

Tariff, protective (1841), 376, 400. 

abolished (1849), 378, 400. 

imposed by British colonies, 378, 401. 

revenue, present, 378, 400. 
Taxes, Roman, 25. 

Danegeld (992), 42. 



Taxes, how levied in Saxon period, 47. 
William I pays, to the Pope, 63. 
Domesday Book and, 65. 
levied -by robber barons (Stephen), 74. 
feudal, 79. 

feudal, given up (1660), 273. 
clergy exempt from certain feudal (note), 

79, 120. 
scutage, or shield, 88. 
paid by free towns, 99. 
John levies, 105. 
first, on personal property (1188) (note), 

109. 
personal, levied by Henry III, log. 
limited by Magna Carta (1215), 107, 

142. 
limited by confirmation of the charters 

(1299), 117. 
Provisions of Oxford against illegal 

(1258), III. 
nobles refuse to pay, to the Pope (1258), 

112. 
the first poll, levied (1381), 135-137. 
riot caused by poll-taxes (1381), 135-137. 
House of Commons gets control of 

(1407), 152, 372. 
extorted by "benevolences," 169, 176, 

182. 
Richard III abolishes " benevolences," 

171. 
Cade's rebellion and (1450), 161. 
Parliament protests against illegal 

(1483), 171- 
Henry VM's policy respecting, 182. 
James I levies illegal duties, 233. 
James I's methods of taxing knights, 

237- 
limited by Petition of Right (1628), 240. 
protest of Parliament against illegal 

(1629), 241. 
and the "Long Parliaiii^i*:" ("1640), 

244. 
excise duties (civil-war period), 247. 
Cromwell levies, on Royalists, 256. 
limited by Bill of Rights (1689), 288. 
House of Commons limits, to certain 

ends (i68g), 289. 
levied on the American colonies (George 

III), 330, 332, 333, 334- 
Sydney Smith's humorous enumeration 

of (George III), 344. 
the Window Tax repealed (185 1), 379. 
House Tax first levied (185 1), 379. 
stamp tax on newspapers repealed (1855), 

379- 
present system of revenue duties, 378, 

400, 401. 



Ixxiv 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Taxes, see Benevolences, Bill of Rights, Ire- 
land, Loans, Magna Carta, Money, 
Ship Money, House of Commons, 
Reforms, Parliament, Petition of 
Right, Tariff; see, also. Constitu- 
tional Summary in Appendix, i- 
xxviii. 

Tea introduced into England (1660), s"-^ 
"Party," the Boston (1773), 333- 

Telegraph, the Atlantic cable laid (1858, 
1866), 379- 
lines owned by English Government, 

399- 
Temperance movement (18th century), 329. 
Temperance, see Intemperance. 
Test Act, see Laws. 
Theatre, the, in early times, 85, 226. 
"Thorough," Strafford's policy of (1629- 

1640), 241. 
Time, New Style, vs. Old, in reckoning 

(1752) (note), 325. 
Tobacco introduced (i6th century), 230. 
Toleration, religious, formerly unknown, 207, 
208, 211, 212. 
Bacon and Hooker plead for (James I), 

231- 
Cromwell's, 256. 

pretended acts of, 270, 279, 280, 281. 
Toleration, Act of, see Laws, 
in universities (187 1), 398. 
in Parhament (1888),. 398. 
see Declaration of Indulgence, Laws, 
Religion. 
Tory party, rise of the (Charles II), 271. 
in Anne's reign, 29s, 3oi> 302. 
in George I's reign, 312, 316. 
changes name to Conservative party, 

364- 

recent action of, 371, 372. 
Tournaments, ?>k. t^5. 
Towpf ^^' London, William I builds the, 61, 

83. 
Town charters, see Charters. 
Towns, Anglo-Saxon, 50, 54. 

rise of free, 99. 
Trade, 54, 84, 147, 178, 225, 227, 337, 378, 
400. 

restrictions of, in the colonies, see Colo- 
nies. 

free trade (1849), 378,400. 

England's decline in, 410. 

see Commerce, Industry. 
Trades unions established, 400. 
Transubstantiation, 200. 
Transvaal, the, 407-410. 

discovery of diamonds in the (1867), 408. 

discovery of gold in the (1884), 408. 



Transvaal, war with the, see Wars. 

annexed to English possessions (1877), 
408. 

re-annexed (1900), 410. 
Treason, Henry VII I's punishment of, 200. 
Treaty of Bretigny [Bray-teen-yee'] (1360), 
130. 

of Limerick (1691), 291. 

of London (1S84) (note), 408. 

of Pretoria (1881) (note), 408. 

of Ryswick (1697), 293. 

of Sand River Convention (1852), 408. 

of Troyes [Trwa] (1420), 157. 

of Utrecht [U'trekt] (1713), 302, 312. 

of Wallingford (1153), 75- 

of Washington (1871), 383. 

of Wedmore (878), 39-40. 

with France and Spain (1763), 327. 

with United States (1782, 1783), 337. 

see Wars. 
Trelawney, Bishop of Bristol, 281. 

"And shall Trelawney die? " (song), 281, 
Trent affair, the (1861), 382. 
Trial by battle, 77. 
Triennial Act, see Laws. 
Tudor, Henry, claims the crown (1485), 172. 

house of (1485-1603), 179. 

Henry, marries Elizabeth of York, 179. 

see Henry VII, Henry VIII,. Edward 
VI, Mary, Elizabeth. 
Turner, 352. 
Tyler, Wat, rebellion of (1381), 135-137- 

Uiiiformity Acts, see Laws. 
Union Jack, flag (1707), 303. 
Union of England and Wales (1536) (note), 

116. 
Union of England and Scotland (1603), 229. 

completed (1707), 303. 
Union of Great Britain and Ireland (1800), 

346. 
Unitarians, persecution of, 287. 

not included in the Toleration Act 

(1689), 287. 
burned (1612), 308. 
"United Irishmen," 345. 
United States declares itself independent 
(1776), 336. 
England recognizes the independence of 

the (1782), 337. 
War of 1812 with England, see Wars. 
Civil War in, England's relation to 

(i86i), 381. 
exports food to England, 401. 
war with Spain, England's attitude 

(1898) (note), 419. 
trade of, compared with England, 410. 



INDEX 



Ixxv 



United States, unity of interests with Eng- 
land, 417-420. 
Universities, see Education. 
" Utopia," Sir Thomas More's, ig8, 217. 
Utrecht, Peace of, see Treaties. 

Vaccination introduced (1796), 320. 
" Vanity Fair," Bunyan's, 147. 
Venezuela boundary dispute, 404. 
Veto, crown has lost power of the, 369. 
" Vicar of Bray " (song) (note), 213. 
Victoria, reign of (1837-1901), 367-410. 

the Queen's descent, 367. 

the House of Commons supreme, 368. 

limited power of the Queen, 368, 369. 

sketch of the peerage, 369. 

income of the Queen and royal family 
(note), 373. 

the Queen's marriage, 373. 

postal reforms, 374. 

rise of the Chartists, 374. 

the Corn Laws, 376. 

the Irish famine, 377. 

repeal of tlie Com Laws, 378. 

free trade inaugurated, 378. 

the World's Fair, 379. 

repeal of the Window Tax and the news- 
paper tax, 379. 

the Opium War, 379. 

the Crimean War, 380. 

death of Prince Albert, 381. 

the American Civil War, 3S1, 382. 

seizure of Mason and Slidell, 382. 

the Alabama, ravages of, 383. 

England pays the bill, 383. 

municipal reform, 384. 

woman suffrage, 384. 

Jews admitted to Parliament, 384. 

the second Reform Act, 384-385. 

the third Reform Act, 385. 

abolition of compulsory church rates, 
386. 

disestablishment of the English Church 
in Ireland, 386. 

the Elementary Education Act, 386. 

abolition of religious tests in the univer- 
sities, 387. 

the first Irish Land Act, 387. 

the Irish Land League, 388. 

the second Irish Land Act, 389. 

the leading names in science, literature, 
and art, 390-391. 

the Queen's Jubilee, 391-392. 

the Queen's "Diamond Jubilee," 392. 

review of sixty years of English history 
(1837-1897), 392-405- 

the New Poor Law, 392. 



Victoria, the broadening of the basis for 

suffrage, 393-395- 
the Local Government Act, 394. 
overthrow of the Spoils System, 395. 
the secret ballot, 395. 
reform in the army, 396. 
the Registration Act, 396. 
reforms in law procedures, 396. 
reforms in the administration of justice, 

396, 397- 
reforms in treatment of the insane, 

397- 
progress in the education of the masses, 

397- 
religious toleration in the universities, 

398. 
abolition of religious tests in Parliament, 

398. 
improvements in transportation and 

communication, 398-399. 
introduction of petroleum, 399. 
introduction of photography, 399. 
introduction of ether, 399. 
progress of the laboring classes, 400. 
Trades Unions Acts, 400. 
free trade, 400. 

Agricultural Holdings Act, 401. 
outlook of agriculture, 401. 
Consolidated Death Duties Act, 402. 
the colonial expansion of England, 402. 
England's change of feeling toward her 

colonies, 403. 
England's new policy toward Ireland, 

404. 
Gladstone's Home Rule Bill, 404. 
Balfour's Local Government Act, 404. 
arbitration of disputes, 404. 
death of Gladstone, 405. 
the Cabot Tower, 405. 
centennial of the first savings-bank, 405. 
England in Eg\'pt, 406. 
progress in Africa, 407. 
affairs in South Africa, 407. 
the great Boer War, 409. 
death of the Queen, 410. 
Villeins, or serfs, 62, 78, 80, 132, 135-137, 

142. 
rights under Magna Carta, 142. 
gradual emancipation of the, 136-137. 
not fully emancipated until 1775 (note), 

137- 
Virginia named, 218. 

first permanent colony in (1607), 234. 
emigration of Royalists to, see Emi- 
gration. 
Vote, many common people deprived of the 
right to (1430), 160-161, 175. 



Ixxvi 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Vote, right to, extended, see Suffrage, Reform 
Acts of 1832, 1867, 1884; also Local 
Government Act, Woman Suffrage, 
and Municipal Suffrage. 

Wages, effect of "Black Death" on (1349), 
132. 
laws to prevent rise of (1349), 132. 
rate of, in 1381, 135. 
rate of, in 181 1, 348. 
rate of, in 1834, 400. 
effect of agricultural depression on, now, 

401-402. 
rise in, during Victorian period, 410. 
Wales, conquest of (1282), 115. 
wars with, see Wars, 
incorporated with England (1536) (note), 

116. 
the first Prince of, born (1284), 269. 
Walker, the Rev. George, at Londonderry 

(1689), 291. 
Wallace, William, 117. 
Walpole, Sir Robert, 314, 315, 320-322, 328. 
first Prime Minister (172 1), 315. 
how he governed, 320. 
Warbeck and Symnel, the pretenders (Henry 

VII), 184. 
Wars (principal), American colonies (1775- 
1782), 335-337- 
Austrian Succession (1741), 322. 
Boer (1899-1901), 409-410. 
China (1839), 379. 
Civil (1138-1153), 74- 
" (1173), 93- 
" (1215-1216), 108. 
" (1264), 112-114. 
" (1399-1403), 151-153- 
" (1455-1485), 162-173. 
" (1485-1490), 184. 
" the Great (1642-1649), 245-250. 
Crimean (1853), 380. 
Cromwell's (1649-1658), 252, 253, 258. 
Dutch (1653), 258. 

" (1667), 268. 
Egypt (1881-1883), 406. 

" (1896-1899), 406-407. 
French (1214-1216), 105, 108. 
" (1338), 125-131- 
" (1692-1697), 293. 
" (1702), 296-300, 302. 
" (1751-1757), 324- 
" (1756-1763), 325-327- 
" (1793-1805), 340. 
" (1815), 342. 
" Hundred Years' " begins (1338), 125- 

131- 
India(i75i-i757), 324- 



Wars, India, rebellion (1857), 381. 
Ireland, see Ireland. 
"Pretender" (1715), 316-317. 

" (1745), 323- 
Roses (1455-1485), 162-173. 
Russia (1853), 380. 
Scotland, see Scotland. 
Spain (158S), 220-222. 
" (1658), 258. 
" (1739), 321- 
" Spanish Succession" (1702), 296-300, 

302, 
United States (1776-1782), 335-337- 
" " (1812-1815), 341-342. 

" (Civil War) (1861), 382-383. 
" " with Spain (1898) (note), 

419. 
Wales (1282), 115. 

see, too, Wars (in general), below ; see 
Rebellions. 
Wars (in general), effect of English Channel 
on, 14. 
Caesar invades Britain, 55, 54 B.C., 18. 
Romans conquer Britain (43), 19. 
revolt of Boadicea (61), 20. 
Anglo-Saxons invade Britain (477), 3 1 - 
siege of Anderida (490), 31. 
King Arthur defeats the Saxons (520), 

32- 
the Danes invade England (871), 38. 
the Danes defeated by Alfred (871), 

39- 

Treaty of Wedmore (878), 40. 

Sweyn conquers England (1013), 43. 

Harold's war in the north (1066), 57. 

William the Conqueror invades and con- 
quers England (1066), 57-59- 

William quells rebellion in the north 
(1068), 60. 

defeats Hereward (1091), 60. 

William's expedition to Normandy 
(1087), 67. 

William Rufus struggles with the 
barons (1087-1100), 69. 

Henry I's war in Normandy (i 106), 72. 

Stephen's war with the Scotch (1138), 

74- 
civil war of Stephen's reign (1138-1153), 

74. 
. Henry II's war with France (1160), 88. 
civil war of Henry IPs reign (1173), 93- 
Richard I goes to the Crusades (i 190),. 

98-100. 
John's war in Normandy (1204), 103. 
John's war with France (1214), 105- 
John's war with the barons and with 

France (1215-1216), 108. 



INDEX 



Ixxvii 



Wars (in general), civil war of Henry Ill's 

reign (1264), 112-114. 
Prince Edward goes to the Crusades 

(1270), 114. 
Edward I conquers Wales (1282), 115. 
Edward I conquers Scotland (1290-1296), 

116. 
Edward I, revolt of Wallace (1303), 

117. 
Edward II defeated by the Scotch (13 14), 

122. 
Edward III, beginning of the Hundred 

Years' War with France (1338), 

125-131. 
civil war of Henry IV's reign (1399- 

1403), 151-^53- 
Henry V's war with France (1415), 156- 

158. 
Henry VI's war with France (1422- 

^ 1431), 158-159- 

civil war — Wars of the Roses (1455- 

1485), 162-173. 
Richard III and Henry Tudor, battle of 

Bosworth Field (1485), 173. 
civil war of Henry VI I 's reign (1485- 

1490), 184. 
Henry VIII's war with the Scotch 

(1513), 190. 
civil war of Henry VIII's reign (1537), 

196. 
Edward VI's war with the Scotch (1547), 

203. 
Elizabeth's war with Spain (1588), 220- 

222. 
Elizabeth's war in Preland, 223. 
James I, and the Thirty Years' War 

(1618), 233. 
Charles I's war with Spain, 240. 
Charles I's war with France, 240. 
the great civil war, Charles I's reign 

(1642-1649), 245-250. 
civil war, the Commonwealth (1649- 

1651), 252-253. 
civil war, Cromwell in Ireland (1649), 

252. 
civil war, Cromwell in Scotland (1650), 

253- 
Cromwell's, with the Dutch (1653), 

258. 
Cromwell's, with Spain (1658), 258. 
Charles II and the Dutch (1667), 268. 
James II and Monmouth's rebellion 

(1685), 275-276. 
William III enters England, 283. 
William III and James II (1689-1690), 

290-291. 
William III, Scottish war (1689), 292, 



Wars (in general), William III, continental 
wars with France (1692-1697), 293. 

Anne's, with France, the " Spanish Suc- 
cession " (1702), 296-300, 302. 

George I, with the " Pretender " (1715), 
316-317. 

George II, with Spain, the " War of Jen- 
kins' Ear" (1739), 321. 

George II, of the " Austrian Succession " 
(1741), 322. 

George II, the " Pretender " (1745), 323. 

George II, in India (1751-1757), 324. 

George II, with France for the posses- 
sion of America (1756-1 763), 325-327. 

George III, with the American colonies 
(1775-1782), 335-337- 

George III, with France (1793-1805), 
340- 

George III, with the United States 
(1812-1815), 341-342- 

George III, with Napoleon — battle of 
Waterloo (181 5), 342-343- 

George III, Irish rebellion (1798), 344- 

Victoria, with China, the Opium War 

(1839), 379, 380. 
Victoria, the Crimean War (1853), 380. 
Victoria, the rebellion in India (1857), 

381. 
Victoria, the American Civil War(i86i), 

' 382-383. 
Victoria, war in Egypt (1881, 1883), 406. 
Victoria, war in Egypt (1896-1899), 406- 

407. 
Victoria, United States, war with Spain 

(1898) (note), 419. 
Victoria, the great Boer War (1899), 409- 

410. 
Victoria, see Arbitration, Battles, Re- 
bellions, Treaties, and Names of 

Countries. 
Warwick, Earl of (15th century), power of 

the, 160. 
called the "king-maker," 166. 
Washington's ancestors emigrate to Virginia, 

255- 
attitude in the Revolution, 336. 
Watling Street (Roman road), 40. 
Watt's improved steam engine (1769), 347. 
Wat Tyler's rebellion, see Rebellion. 
" Wearin' o' the Green " (song), 345. 
Wedmore, Treaty of, see Treaties. 
Wellington, the Duke of, 341, 343, 362. 
Wentworth, Thomas, Earl of Strafford, 240, 

241, 244. 
Wesley, John and Charles, 328, 329. 
Wessex, 32. 



Ixxviii LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



Westminster Abbey, begun by Edward the 
Confessor (1049-1065), 44, 83. 
Edward the Confessor's tomb in, 44. 
Catholics meet there annually, 44. 
William the Conqueror crowned in, 60. 
rebuilt in great part by Henry III (13th 

century), no. 
curse of the charter breakers pronounced 

in, 112. 
arms of Simon de Montfort in, 114. 
the coronation chair in, 117. 
first House of Commons met in, 113. 
House of Commons sat in, for more 

than three hundred years, 113. 
Edward I's tomb in, 120. 
Queen Eleanor's tomb in, 120. 
burial of Richard II in, 155. 
Henry V's tomb in, 158. 
Caxton sets up the first printing press in 

precincts of (i477)> 167. 
the sanctuary of, 170. 
Henry VII's Chapel in, 179, 186, 224. 
Henry VII's tomb in, 186. 
Henry IV dies in, 154. 
Elizabeth's tomb in, 224. 
Mary Queen of Scots' tomb in, 224. 
Newton's tomb in, 273. 
James II restores Catholic worship in 

(1685), 275. 
Queen Caroline excluded from (George 

IV), 357- 
tombs of illustrious men of science in, 

39°- 
Gladstone's tomb in, 405. 
Beaconsfield's memorial in, 405. 
of peculiar interest to Americans,4i8,4i9. 
Westminster Hall, 83, 338. 
Whalley, Edmund (regicide), 264. 
Whig party, rise of the (Charles II), 271. 
under James II, 282. 
under Anne, 295, 301, 302, 307. 
under George I, 312, 314, 316, 320. 
under George III, his opposition to the, 

330. 
under George IV, 354. 
under William IV, 363. 
take the name of Liberal party (1832), 

364 ; (note), 394. 
see Political Parties. 
Whitby, Council of (664), 36. 
Whitefield, work of, 328. 
White Horse Hill (Berkshire), 39. 
Wilberforce, 364. 

Wilkes, John, attacks policy of George III 
(1763), 338. 
vindicates rights of parliamentary elec- 
tors (1768-1782), Appendix, xxvi. 



Wilkie, 352. 

Will of Henry VIII respecting the crowTi, 

198 (note), 205. 
William of Normandy invades England 
(1066), 56-57. 
fights the battle of Hastings (1066), 58. 
grants charter to London, 59. 
is crowned king (1066), 59. 
William I, reign of (1066-1087), 59-68. 
quells rebellion in the north, 60. 
conquers Hereward, 60. 
builds the Tovi^er of London, 61. 
makes large grants of land, 61, 62. 
Law of Englishry, 63. 
and the Pope, 63, 64. 
seizes the New Forest, 64. 
compiles Domesday Book, 65. 
holds great meeting on Salisbury Plain, 

65, 66. 
death and burial, 67. 
results of the Norman Conquest, 67, 68. 
William Rufus, reign of (1087-1100), 68-73. 
his struggle with the barons, 69. 
methods of raising money, 69. 
he defrauds the Church, 69, 70. 
makes Anselm archbishop, 70. 
his one merit, 70. 
his death, 70. 
William of Orange invited to take the Eng- 
lish crown (1688), 282. 
lands in England with an army, 283. 
flight of James II, 283. 
William and Mary, reign of (1689-1702), 
285-294. 
the Declaration "of Right, 285, 286. 
Jacobites and Non- Jurors, 286. 
the Mutiny Act and the Toleration Act, 

286, 287. 
the Bill of Rights and Act of Settle- 
ment, 287, 288. 
Parliament creates the sovereign, 288. 
benefits of the Revolution of 1688, 289. 
James II lands in Ireland, 290. 
siege of Londonderry, 290, 291. 
battle of the Boyne, 291. 
Treaty of Limerick, 291. 
the Jacobites in Scotland, 292. 
massacre of Glencoe, 292. 
Peace of Ryswick, 293. 
origin of the National Debt, 293. 
Bank of England established, 293, 294. 
William's death, 295. 
William IV, reign of (1830-1837), 359-367- 
need ofj parliamentary reform, 359. 
"rotten boroughs," 359-361. 
the Reform Bill, 361-363. 
passage of the Bill and results, 363-364- 



INDEX 



Ixxix 



William IV, abolition of slavery, 364. 

factory reform, 364-365. 

the first railway opened, 365-366. 

invention of the friction match, 366. 

changes his ministers at pleasure, 368. 
Winchester, public school of, 177. 
Window Tax, see Taxes. 
Windsor Castle, 147, 177. 
Winthrop, John, emigrates to Massachu- 
setts (1630), 255. 
Witan, power of the, 47, 48 ; Appendix 

(note), ii. 
Witchcraft, belief in, 226. 
Witenagemot, or National Council, Ap- 
pendix, ii. 
Wolfe, General, takes Quebec (1759), 326. 
Wolsey, Cardinal, 192. 

Wool, rise of m^jiufacture of (1339), 125, 148. 
" Woolsack," significance of the, 125. 
Woman suffrage, see Suffrage. 
Women and children employed in mines 
and factories, 364, 365. 

law to protect, 365. 



Wordsworth, 351, 
World as known in 1485, 185. 
World's Fair (185 1), 379. 
Wren, Sir Christopher, rebuilds St. Paul's, 
268. 

his tomb in St. Paul's, 268. 
Wycliffe, writings of (1369-1377), 133, 144. 

translates the Bible (1378), 138. 

his " Poor Priests," 138. 

and the Lollards, 139. 

his remains burned, 139. 

see Lollards. 

Yeoman, Latimer's description of a, 202. 
Yeomen as bowmen at Crecy, 128. 
Yeomen's lands taken (Edward VI), 202. 
York, house of, 150. 
York (White Rose), 164. 
York and Lancaster united, 179. 
York, the Roman city of, 23, 27. 
Yorkist period (1399-1485), general visw of 
the, 175-178. 



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